I wanted to touch base with all of you today and talk about a few things. So many of my blogger friends, run friends & Facebook friends are just killing it right now. I mean KILLING IT. Running killer times. Lifting heavy weights. Qualifying for Boston. Conquering new and horrific challenging distances. And I’m proud of them. They worked hard and they deserve everything that comes to them and more. But there is a whole group of us, myself included, who are also working hard but it doesn’t look quite as great on paper. That’s because we are a Work In Progress. And let’s be honest, some of us will forever and always be just that …… a Work In Progress.
Social Media can be as great as it is horrible. There is so much to motivate us and even more to tear us down. Let’s build our network accordingly. Keep the motivators, get rid of those who spew negativity toward us and others. Focus on what we can control. Identify our weaknesses. Be positive. Know that things don’t change over night. Fitness, life, parenting and work can be hard and getting where we want to go can be a painfully slow process.
In real life, there are road blocks. U-Turns. Detours. And people who want to tear us down, possibly because they are miserable and too afraid to chase their own dreams. They see us “going for it” and call us selfish, bad mothers, single-minded and/or obsessed. Well, they are right, I am obsessed. I’m obsessed with my own personal wellbeing. Obsessed with wanting to be the best person I can be today, tomorrow and well into the future. But I still have to take the detour like everyone else. Life is hard. It’s how we chose to react and handle what is thrown our way that defines us as people.
Don’t let the fear stop you from chasing down what you want. Don’t let the excuses build a wall around you. Don’t let stress be an enabler. Think for a minute. What’s the plan?
- What can I control? ANS (for me): Only my actions and reactions.
- What is my weakness? ANS: I’m a stress eater and let my emotions enable binge eating.
- Be positive – I always get in my workouts, even when everything else is falling apart.
- Know that things don’t change over night – I’ll keep chipping away at fitness even when it seems like my goals are hopeless. I’ve created mini goals to keep things focused and manageable.
Over the last 18 months, I’ve been in a period of constant change, chaos and struggle. I look back at the “easy days” longingly and wish that just a fraction of the easiness would return to our lives. I know that it will. I have faith that better times are ahead but for now, I’m focusing on what I can control. I’m doing pretty well with my food, except for the bags of mini health bars that hubby keeps bringing home for me. Unfortunately, today I told him not to bring them home anymore because they are the TTF kryptonite. 
More salads, fresh veggies, spaghetti squash dinners. Less Heath Bar candy.
More StairMaster and Strength Training, less mindless running. I can barely move my 35# kettlebell at this point and that makes me sad.
And most of all, no matter what, I refuse to give up. Even if I never get back to where I “once was”, I’ll keep working toward new goals. Pursing new things with dogged determination because I know that for me, fitness is about more than the size of my jeans and more about the state of my mind.
I’m a Work In Progress and I’ll never give up ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **
TooTallFritz 
Amen!
We are all works in progress. Even the ones who seem to “have it all”……
Barbara J Dutton
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Thank you THANK YOU THANKYOU for posting this. I have been feeling so poorly over my working and seemingly doing stuff yet not getting the PR or PB like EVERYONE is posting!!! so important to remember the WIP …. and the state of mind!!! xoxo
I have to say…this is probably one of your most awesome and best posts of your entire blog career! And I know…you never give up…you go it your course to where you end up! And that is all you or anyone ever need to do!
Just so you know…despite having run some killer times…qualifying for Boston and going back an 8th straight time…I am a work in progress…just like you and probably all runners out there. Cause even those that are posting killer times, qualifying for Boston…eating up the race turf..they are mortal also…will discover “work-in-progress” (WIP).
Damn…you know it TTF (Amanda)…it ain’t how fast you run…how well you do or place…in the grand scheme of things…though some of those aspects can be things to hang your hat on and keep you moving forward to be your best…ultimately…you just find a “mortal” place to live and find both significance and sustenance in what you do as an individual to try to live healthier and be a better and stronger runner. But time…finish…badges of honor in BQT or blings or awards for running fast…are not what we need.
Just find comfort…that in what you do to run, train and run your races…means you give your effort. You balance that training and effort with what capacities you have to run your fastest…and relative to the type and degree and intensity of training you can muster to prepare you for your race.
And if all one can do…no fast time…no PR…no BQT…who cares…given what your adventure was in training and balancing the other aspects of life’s demands…find comfort in what you do…is the best you can do…at that time and circumstances. Way too much emphasis on the finish time or where you place in field. Way too many humans on earth and way so many gonna run far faster than you. But you know…you will run your time…they will run theirs faster….but in relative sense…you will be running equivalent effort…just faster means they are genetically and perhaps traininig-wise more than what you have to bear.
It is not about how fast you are or how fast you run, or PR’s or anything…other than simply doing something good for your health and keeps you going in progression of life day-to-day…month-to-month…year-to-year. No one…that is runner elite…or runner mortal (mortal the perspective I like to dwell on)…has to question what they do or where they end up….you end up a winner…simply cause you finish what you started out to do!
Let’s end this response with what I have posted before maybe here…Arthur Ashe’s (tennis player) infamous quote….”Start where you are…bring what you have…do what you can.” I think that quote says it all and could be a good surrogate phrase for your post. Just be like Arthur Ashe…as I know all runners do…given the training…given the constraints of genetics…given daily life’s demands…you name it…but show up race day…proud and confident…you do the best you can!
And that is all I got to say about the subject…other than…I know TTF… Amanda Carey….gives it all she can to do what she hopes to accomplish in any and all runs…balances it off very nicely given demands of work-life and family demands…among other things. Keep it up TTF…I need no more inspiration…other than what you post…says we all mortals! Time or place of inconsequential…only how we feel about our pursuits to be runner or whatever…for that matter. Just train and run like Arthur Ashe’s quote…can’t get any better than that.
Singly…the best post on a subject you have ever posted! And if you like fate or give moments means significance….song playing right now as I right these last lines…is Los Lobos…”Will the Wolf Survive.” How fitting a song to come up responding to this post…you are Lobo…the wolf…as all your runners and those that follow your blog. ..”You will survive!”
The day I am no longer WIP will be the day I RIP.
Great post’
I love this post!!! So fitting and true!!!!
How did you become a runner, anyway? And triathlete? I’m always curious–seems like you’re a lifetime runner. I just started and honestly don’t feel like I can ever truly be a runner or even look remotely like one. But posts like yours make me smile. We all are a WIP, 🙂
I have always ran, Sandra. I was a sprinter & high jumper in high school & college. Took some time off after college, than started long distance runs after I had my first child. It’s as much stress relief for me as anything else.
Stick with it. If you run, you are a runner. Don’t forget that. No other requirements other than your putting one foot in front of another.
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Thanks. According lulumon, if I am not a size 12, I am not a runner.
Wow. That makes me happy that I don’t support lulumon. Try Athleta. They have a variety of sizes for all runners, even tall ones like me!
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Indeed!