I don’t care to be the best.  

I’m not even sure I care about how fast I am.

My half marathon training has officially started, and I’m taking the same approach to my running calendar as I am to my fitness life.

Be Vibrant

My motto for the next three months is “Train for a Vibrant Life.”  

Vibrant today, when I’m not so tired from exercising, I’m prying my eyes open when my kids get home from school. (Or as I call it, GAME ON time.)

Vibrant six weeks from now, when I’m far enough into the process that I risk achy hips and pins-and-needles feet.

Vibrant ten years from now, when I’m moving my boys into their first home and able to carry heavy boxes or pick up the end of a couch.

Vibrancy beyond.

I like goals.  The feeling of pushing myself to the very edge is exhilarating.  Recognizing my physical and mental strength when I perform push-ups, or run up a steep hill, is empowering.

But I’m not interested in making every workout like that.  I don’t want to take my body to its limits every time.

What I’m really interested in is creating a vibrant life — now and in the future.

Define your own vibrant life

What does that look like on a daily basis?

• I can sit cross-legged for more than thirty seconds.
• I’m not waking up in the middle of the night because of a throbbing hip.
• My exercise generates enough energy to give me an endorphin-fueled boost, but doesn’t use so much I’m depleted the rest of the day.
• I’ve developed muscles strong enough to tote the mega packs of bottled water from Costco.  

What is my future vision?

• I build Thomas the Train tracks on the floor with my grandkids, or give them piggyback rides.
• I visit one of my boys in Colorado, where I pray one will live.  (Please, God, I love my life and friends in Houston but I just want to spend a summer in 75-degree mountains!)  We will hike and I keep up.
• When I drop my keys, I easily bend down and pick them up.
• Tripping is just that – a stumble from which I quickly recover.  It doesn’t end up in a full-fledged fall and greater injury, like a broken hip.

I know none of these hopes are guaranteed, but my hope is the movement I do now will help set me up for living the life I dream of later.  

What’s difficult, and confusing, is finding the balance of embracing those seasons of pushing myself, but keeping the endgame in mind.  

There’s nothing wrong with having challenging goals.  Definitions vary.  For me, it’s a half marathon or a fast 5K.  Or maybe it’s five pull-ups, which I’m failing miserably at.  

For others, that’s just the warm-up to their ambitions.

Vibrancy looks different on different people

I see Skirt Sports Ambassadors who run 100+ mile trail races. My sister-in-law competes in, and is damn good at, long distance triathlons (like Ironmans – or is it Ironmen? Ironpeoples?)  I’m getting better at, but have yet to perfect, not comparing myself to these women.  I wrote about it here several months ago.

This doesn’t mean I won’t push myself or have targets through this training season.  I’ll have speedwork days that will kick my butt, and I’ll give myself pep talks through this wretched heat.

It just means I have my endgame in mind:  to train for a successful race, on November 19, and in the race of life.

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