Relentless Forward Progress

Relentless Forward Progress.  

What a great name for a book! What a great string of words, period. Relentless Forward Progress. This  sums up so much of what it's about to live life: continuing to move forward from where we are and make progress one step at a time.  Hope. Finding things to work on and be intentional about so we can keep making our life what we want it to be.  Small steps.  Big steps.  Daring leaps of possibility.  This is one of the things I love so much about running and training for marathons (and maybe soon to be ultramarathons).  We start where we are and we keep moving forward with progress.  Running is a metaphor for life.  Sometimes we train for a big goal where we push our limits and sometimes we run to be with ourselves and do something that brings joy.  No matter why or how we run, it adds an element to our living that keeps us striving for more... health, life, possibility, energy....  I truly think that running is one thing that helps us be the best possible version of ourselves.   

Relentless Forward Progress is the next book on my reading list as far as running books go.  Up until now, ultrarunning isn't something that I've had a deep desire to try. And I'm still not entirely sold.  In fact, I've often said that the marathon is the longest distance I would ever want to run.  When my husband read Born to Run a few years ago, he started talking about his desire to run an ultra and I just rolled my eyes and said how ridiculous that sounded.  Of course he usually brought it up right after I finished a marathon and I was still in the stage of thinking I never wanted to run that long ever again.  I remember him asking me if I would ever want to run the last 30 miles of a 100 mile race with him.  I thought he was nuts!  30 miles?!  26.2 is plenty long enough!!  Funny how time changes things.  I think I'm finally at a place in my life where running a trail ultra sounds kind of fun!  It definitely sounds like a challenge!  And here are the biggest reasons I think it just might be time to do it:

1. We live in a trail running mecca that is the best possible training grounds for a trail ultra!  In fact, since we moved here at the start of August, I've almost exclusively run on trail.  Not just flat trails either...lots of hills, rocks, turns...varying terrain.  
2. It would be such a special thing to be able to train and run my first ultra with my husband (his first too).  We'd start with a 50k and see what we think.  The 50k we are thinking of is in May (a very challenging one!) so I could use the Boston Marathon as a training run if that's what I decided.  

For now, I'm still deciding what to do about my next training goals.  I might use a different marathon plan and train for Boston starting in January and then still try to run the ultra in May but then I also might just truly train for endurance with no specific marathon training and use Boston as a true long training run for an ultra...slow and steady.  I'm hoping this book will bring inspiration.  I hear good things about it.  Here's what the back of the book has to say:

Speaking of relentless forward progress....on my run today, I thought of some short term and long term goals I have for myself as I continue to move forward here and set down some roots:

• Start paying more attention to my daily diet.  Since moving, it hasn't been the best.  I stopped taking a daily vitamin, was skipping some important nutrients, and so much more! I'm pretty sure this added to the depression I was dealing with. It's time to get back on track here.  I'm confident that being more conscious about a balanced diet with the right nutrients will help will help with mood, focus, ambition, and athletic performance.  
• Get back in a routine of writing in my personal journals daily:  free writing, gratitude, goals, and just processing.  
• Continue to fill my life with positive intentions and thoughts that I want to fulfill.
• Continue to live with vulnerability and authenticity.  This is how I thrive.  Being open with my feelings and thoughts as they come can be scary but also very empowering.  
• Make efforts to build new relationships while nurturing the ones I already have.  
• Spend 10-15 minutes of focused quality time with each of my kids weekly. Really, this doesn't sound like much but with all the many things that fill the week with three kids, this is harder than it sounds some weeks. We spend lots more time with our kids and will likely have many opportunities to connect with them in meaningful ways every day.  However, things can get busier than we intend.  Being conscious of spending specific time with each of my kids is just one way to make sure each day isn't a "we'll get to that tomorrow" type day.  Even if each kid has one night a week where I cuddle with them in bed for awhile before they fall asleep...this INTENTIONAL quality time goes a long way. This will be their time.  A run, a cuddle, a walk, a trip to the store together....  This is in addition to the every day stuff.  A slow-down, special, deliberate connection.  
• Same as above but with my husband!  But make that a date night or day.  Just deliberate time  we set aside for each other.  Free of distractions.  
• Add some yoga or strength to the fitness routine.  I still have a hard time slowing down for these things but I'm getting better.  My friend Rene made a yoga for runners video that I will share soon.  Simple, short, and great for adding in a routine!  Again, I just need to remember to slow down and make time for this!  
• Continue believing in, researching, and writing the book I'm co-authoring.  More on this another time but I'm excited at the progress so far!  

Follow up to my last post 
There was a blog comment on there this morning that got my fingers moving quite quickly in response...a good comment that provoked lots of words so that comment might explain and elaborate on so much from that post on Depression.  If I was vague, I tried to be clear in the comment.  So, if you want more explanation, read the comments.  :)  

I can't help but feel exposed after my last post.  Vulnerable.  Lots of room for misunderstanding and misconception.  Writing on the topic of depression and feeling so stuck wasn't easy but it was freeing and helpful in finding a refocus.  Honestly, writing it was therapeutic.  Reading your comments and private messages where you shared your personal experiences and struggles made me more aware than ever that mental health is something that needs to be taken more seriously.  Depression is just one mental health topic that our society needs to talk MORE about in order to give people a voice and sense of hope.  I read so many of your stories--stories of depression, anxiety and fears of talking about and admitting your struggles.  Because there is such a stigma that comes with depression, so many people are embarrassed to talk about it. There is also such a spectrum when it comes to the severity one can experience depression.  Someone like me, who is quite low on the spectrum might feel embarrassed to even admit to having a level of depression at all.  Especially if you see what's out there when you search for things on depression. I searched the hash tag for depression (#depression) on Instagram as I often do before I slap a label on my Instagram posts...just to make sure I'm putting my blog posts with the right category (you never know!).  Oh MY!  Before Instagram even let me into that hash tag group, I got a warning along the lines of the images I was about to see would be disturbing.  Wow.  My recent stretch of feeling depressed and struggling to understand my lower level feeling of depression were not even close to being like what I was seeing in these posts.  They were labeled #depression but so may of the people posting were dealing with things far far beyond anything I can even come close to comprehending. Some SEVERE mental illness!  With that being said, I think writing my post served even more of a purpose than I realized. It helped me process and acknowledge some very real feelings and gave a voice to others who might be in the same place of feeling embarrassed to admit to experiencing some level of depression.

I enjoyed this article:  Overcoming the Stigma of Depression.  

A few bullet points: 

• I've never been clinically diagnosed with depression.  I know there are people out there that have severe levels of depression that I don't even begin to understand.  However, I do know the difference between just feeling down and blah and truly experiencing lows that feel out of our control.  
• Mental Health in our country...the world...is equally as important as physical health.  I so strongly believe that we need to address this topic more and more.  In fact, it is likely that with an increase in mental health awareness and support, we will see a decrease in physical illnesses. 
• This last month of my life has definitely been about finding my ground and setting down roots.  A close friend came to visit this weekend and reminded me that it takes time for plants to have a strong root system and she compared this to how it is for us to feel rooted after a big life change.  Yes!  Feeling unrooted, stuffing feelings of struggle as they came up, and then getting to a point where I just felt stuck, led to some pretty dark feelings.  Getting stuck like this and not knowing what to do with all the hidden feelings we've stored up can surely make us feel sick on a mental level. 
• Being depressed and truly struggling for awhile isn't the same for everyone.  For example, running, self awareness, diet, self expression, talking it out, setting goals, and being heard...these things are just some of what is enough for me to get back on track.  Others might need much more.  Although I've never needed, wanted or used antidepressants or any kind of medication, I do think some people need this!  And I don't think it is anything to be ashamed about!  In fact, talk about it!!  That's just it...let's talk more about this so people don't feel so alone!  

Have you run an ultramarathon?  What one?  Do you have any interest in it?  

Have you read this book Relentless Forward Progress?  

Amanda

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