Happy New Year!

It’s hard to believe 2019 is here.  Wasn’t it just 2010?  The last year went by in a blur…which seems to be the norm now. The days are long and the years are short, right?

I kicked off 2019 with a run, of course.  During that run, I started to thing about resolutions and goals.

I set goals throughout the year but there’s something about a fresh new calendar.  By the end of the year, the calendar looks messy and tired. I like the freshness of a clean slate. A place to plan. A place to set goals to hit throughout the whole year. I’m still contemplating what specific goals I want to hit this year. I’ll be sharing it all once I nail it down.

Before I turned to goal setting, I was all about setting New Year’s resolutions. Like 99.9% of the population, I would mostly forget about those resolutions by February 1st. I haven’t set a resolution in years.

However, I started to think about New Year’s running resolutions. There’s things I do, and I’m sure you do or have done in the past, that need to be left behind in 2018.  Things that aren’t helping us as runners. Here’s what every runner should resolve to do in 2019 to have their best year of running.

Resolve to have FUN

Like it says on every pint of Ben & Jerry’s, “If it’s not fun, why do it?”  The saying applies to running, right?  If you aren’t having fun in the process of training, don’t do it.   If at any point your training plan becomes something you loathe, take a break from it or try something different. Running is a gift.  It’s something that we get to do, not that we have to do.

Resolve to take at least one (or more) rest day a week

Your body needs rest to recuperate from the hard workouts you put it through. The whole #nodaysoff thing is a bunch of bull. Running builds stamina and strength but it also causes tiny amounts of tissue damage every time you lace up. Taking rest days allow for your body to recover and come back stronger and faster for future runs.

Resolve to try something new

If you’ve been running for awhile, you probably have your old comfortable favorites.  Like your favorite shoes, favorite route, favorite days of the week to run, favorite race distances…you get the idea.  In 2019, resolve to try something different, something that is not your usual.  Maybe try a new distance, snowshoe running, or hit up a group run. Changing it up can ignite a spark in your running.  Maybe you’ll find speed that you haven’t had in years.  Or that you really don’t mind 5k’s.

Resolve to warm up before every run

I’m guilty of skipping my warm up here and there.  In an ideal world, I’d be able to get in a 5-10 minute walk/jog before foam rolling and doing a full dynamic warm up. But I’m more likely to get a minute or two of foam rolling and a 5 minute dynamic warm up before a run. I then try to keep at least the first mile pretty easy. Most of my runs are a time crunch so corners are cut to fit it all in. Not ideal but at least it’s something.

Resolve to trust yourself

With my long list of injuries over the years, I tend to not trust what my body can do.  A lot of my goals I’ve put on the back burner simply because I don’t think my body can handle the training.  Even when I’m feeling good, I have a hard time putting trust in my training. In 2018, my word of the year was Trust.  I can’t say that I fully regained trust in my abilities as a runner however, I’m heading into 2019 with more trust in myself than I did at the beginning of 2018. Now that’s progress in the right direction.

Resolve to give back to the running community

We all know that the running community is awesome.  We rally, we support and we keep on running.  Resolve to give back by volunteering at a race, buy an official race photo, or sign up to be a coach for Girls on the Run.

Kick off 2019 with these 6 running #resolutions every runner should make! #newyearnewrunner
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What running resolutions do you need to make in 2019?

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