I say that "running is time for you", because one of the phrases I hear the most from people who tell me that they envy my lifestyle, my training, my races and my challenges is: "If I could..." I always answer them the same: "You can do it, it's just a matter of getting organized".
This year, the Behobia San Sebastian 2019 is still determined that more and more women cross the finish line. If last year we were already 26%, this year we hope to increase that figure and hopefully considerably. The challenge, as you know, is to achieve that in the year 2025 there will be 50% women and 50% men at the starting line. We are all going to achieve this, without a doubt. You just need willpower, organizational skills and, above all, not to feel guilty for going out to train.
It sounds a bit weird to feel guilty about going out to train, but I'm sure many of the readers of this article know what I'm talking about. You've been out of the house all day, you've completed your work day, your children have spent their whole day from school to after school class and from there to their training and when it's time to be together at home, to tell each other about the day, you want to go out and train. You want to, but there is something in your head that encourages you to leave it for another day: "with how good we are now", "I'd better go out tomorrow, because today I haven't been at home much", "I'm sure they want me to stay and play a little with them". A thousand excuses in your head or a thousand reasons that lead you to postpone the desire to go out, to meet again with you and to dedicate time to yourself.
There is a stage in women's lives when we live for others. Our fathers, our mothers, grow older and require our attention, help and support. It is usually a time that coincides with childcare and causes us to forget about ourselves. We become invisible, not so much to others as to ourselves, and we stop dedicating time to ourselves. We think that now is not the time, that the day will come when we do not have so much family mess and we can do sports, go to the gym, go jogging... all that we are so envious when we see other people do it and causes us the "if I could" that we talked about at the beginning.
Well, it's time to approach all this in a different way and get going. We have to turn around this kind of emotional blackmail we are subjected to at home and see it from a totally different point of view. Why? Because spending time with us should not be seen as stealing it from our family, but as an investment in our own well-being.
When one of your children tells you that he or she wants to be with you, that you should not leave, that you will train another day, you have to sit down and explain to him or her that this little while that you are going to be away training makes you very happy, gives you energy to continue with your day to day life and you need it as much as he or she needs to play. It's your playtime. And if you also have a goal to accomplish, the explanation will serve to make you a role model and a mirror to look up to. He will see you as a woman who makes an effort, makes sacrifices, sets challenges and works to meet them. With that act of putting on your Running shoes and going for a run, you will not only feel good and motivated, but you will also set a good example. It will not be time spent but time invested, which is not the same thing. The time spent is spent, that's all. The time invested has a return, in this case, in the form of education in the culture of effort.
"ClandestineRunning".
There is a concept that I really like. It was taught to me by a friend of mine, a runner with small children, who called her trainingrunning clandestinerunning ". She would go out early in the morning, when the kids were still asleep, or at night, when they were already in bed. Yes, she was tired too, and it was hard for her to go out once all the housework was done, but she would go out. That time she kept to herself gave her life, made her reflect on how the day had gone, organized the next day with her shoes on and tidied up her head.
No one said it was easy, but the well-being that running gives us is far superior to the laziness we feel before lacing up our running shoes. At the end of the day, running is all about effort, overcoming, work, renunciation and the final prize.
If you have identified with what I tell in this article and you would like to be part of a group of women who will run next November 10 the Behobia San Sebastian, read on.
From Runnea Women Team we want you to live the Behobia experience as an extraordinary prize. We are looking for 50 women runners to share the challenge of running the most animated 20 kms of Euskadi.
What do we offer?
Courtesy of CD Fortuna KE, organizer of the Behobia, and as I told you before, in Runnea we repeat the experience again with this second call of the Runnea Women Team, and if you enter the selection of that large group of 50 women runners that we will mark the challenge of the Behobia SS 2019, you will have at your disposal:
But above all, the support of a group of women who, like you, will give everything to reach the finish line. All this without forgetting something as important as training. It's also on us. With Runnea Academy's tailor-made plans, the road from Behobia to San Sebastian will be short for you.
Find your time, overcome laziness, don't make excuses or feel guilty for doing something that makes you happy, increases your self-esteem, improves your physical appearance and strengthens you emotionally.
In the next article I will tell you more about the benefits of running for you and your environment.
See you soon and see you with your running shoes on!