The first Wednesday of each month, the Deb from Deb Runs will be providing a word about which to blog. Kind of like a nice little blog prompt. Posts can be fitness or health related, but don’t have to be, so really anyone can play along. Just be sure to link up with InLinkz on Deb’s main post, and share the love by reading and commenting on other’s participant’s posts.
This month’s word is CHOICE
Life and RUNNING are all about CHOICE. Everyday we make CHOICES. Sometimes we make the right CHOICES and unfortunately, sometimes we make the wrong CHOICES.
So how specifically does RUNNING involves CHOICE?
- RACES
There are a lot of races. How do we choose which ones to run?
—Location – Local or Race-cation?
—Surface – Road or Trail?
—Distance – 5k or Half Marathon or even longer?
—Course – Flat or Hilly? Point to Point or Loop?
—FOMO – Who else is doing it?
—Date – Are we free that weekend?
—Swag/Bling
—Previous Experience or New one
—Goals – One in every state, PR, Half Fanatic
—Cost
—Sponsorships – Rock n Blogger or ZOOMA ambassador, etc.
—Food
—The Cause/Charity
I ran this half (Celebrate Life) because my good friend had been diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer.
- RUNNING PARTNERS
If we are lucky, we have many options here. Why do we choose to run with certain runners?
—Convenience – they work or live nearby
—Schedules – they run at the same time of day
—Speed – they run at our pace
—Training Goals – they help us get faster or help us slow down during long runs
—Style – they run/walk or they don’t walk or they run certain intervals
—Races – they are running the same race
—Friendship
I started to run with Alyssa because we worked close to each other but then I switched jobs. Now we run together because of many of the reasons above.
- TIME OF DAY
If you work, you may have limited choices. But still, you can choose to run before work or during lunch or after work. Weather may also be a factor such as running earlier in the summer and later in the winter. Or maybe your running partner influences at what time of day you run.
ONE of the very few times that I ran before work. I almost always run after work when I have more time.
- HOW OFTEN
Do we choose to run everyday? How many rest days each week do we choose to take? Again, there are factors that impact our choices:
–schedule
–injury prevention
–injury recovery
–racing plan or coach
–family obligations
playing tennis is often the reason why I do not run
- LOCATION
Where do we choose to run? On the road, on a bike path, on a trail, on a track, on a treadmill? What impacts our location choose?
–weather
–injuries
–type of run
–running partner
–convenience
there was a track where I used to work and sometimes this was the most convenient location to run especially during my lunch break
- TYPES OF RUNS
Unlike me, you may have a racing plan or a coach which helps you choose whether to do a tempo run, hill repeats, progression run, intervals, easy run, etc.
when I was part of a running group, the coach chose our runs
- FUELING
If you make a mistake in this category, it could be costly. Just sayin. So how do we choose what to eat?
–what others recommend
–what has worked in the past
–something new
—cost
–easy (who has time to make their own?)
–how far we are running
–what we like
–what we can carry
my new favorite – tastes good and has no caffeine
- RUNNING ATTIRE
In the winter, this is my most difficult choice. What do I wear to not be too warm but warm enough? What do we think about when we choose our running outfit?
—weather
—space in our bags/luggage
—comfort
—theme (in a race or for a holiday)
–-color (we have favorites)
—what looks good on us
I froze in this outfit for most of the race
Yes, there’s endless CHOICES that we have to make as Runners.
I’m also linking this post with Susie and Rachel and Debbie and Lora for the Running Coaches’ Corner.
Happy Running! What is the most difficult CHOICE that you deal with in your running? Please share.
My First 5K and More... 
Yes! We all have to make choices when it comes to our running, some good some bad. For me I had to make the choice to not run so many races after I did 35+ races in 2015. It was taking away from my love of racing, and also way too expensive!
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I still run a lot of races but less than last year and probably fewer this year. But I do love racing.
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A huge difficult dilemma is when I’m feeling an injury coming on…do I run anyways? or NOT run and a give the potential injury a chance to disappear? Some wiggles and niggles aren’t actual injuries, so running through them often improves their conditions….but that’s a guessing game AND a game of chance. Too many choices LOL
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Difficult decision for sure.
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Like Kim said above, I also have trouble making the choice to sit out sometimes when I probably should. Sometimes maybe I have too many choices!
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Life is all about choices, and not just in what we do, but in how we react to things, what we believe, etc. etc.
I think like Kim & Deborah, choosing not to run when I know I shouldn’t. I’ve gotten a lot better at it, but it can still be difficult.
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Not running is a hard decision esp if it’s because of sickness or injury. So far, knock on wood, I’haven’t had to make that decision since 2013.
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Running is definitely full of choices! My choice in winter is “treadmill or all the clothes.” 🙂
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Ha ha.
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Such a fun post! It’s all about choice!!! I choose to run because I want to. There is almost always time…I just have to make the choice to make it happen!
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Exactly.
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I guess we have to make time.
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The only choice that’s hard for me is the decision not to run!
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It’s so funny how all of us face similar hurdles and come up with similar solutions. For me, FOMO was giving me some crazy anxiety and I had to make the choice to remove myself from the outlets that were giving me the crazies. Hoping 2018 provides you with great opportunities!
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Thanks and you too.
FOMO is real. All I see now is posts from those running Disney.
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There really are a lot of choices beyond just whether to run or not! I agree with Wendy – the hardest choice is choosing NOT to run.
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I used to think that but with below zero temps, how I have to force myself to go ouytside to run.
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so many choices, but I find the hardest one is choosing to run less, which is what I had to choose last year. Hopefully this year I can make quality choices!!!
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That’s tough.
Same here. I will run less so I have to decide which races to skip.
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I don’t work and still have limited choices when I can run! I can’t run int the dark because there are no lights in my neighborhood and I don’t have a treadmill right now. I also know I can’t race as much as everyone else. I usually do 4 halfs a year mixed in with other distances.
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Four is a good number.
Same here – no lights in my ‘hood and I don’t own a tm.
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Gosh! Choosing races to run is THE HARDEST THING EVER!!! I want to do them all !! FOMO!
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me too!!!
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One of the most difficult choices that I have to make when it comes to running is which races to run. Prior to having my son I focused on quantity over quality. And now that I have less time to race I have to prioritize quality over quantity. Last year I ran my fewest number of races ever, but that also meant that some of them meant a lot more to me than they might have previously.
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A tough choice – whichones to run. New ones, cheap ones. How do we decide?
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Great quote! To many races and too many choices…. I want to run all the races and I dont want to choose…lol, but I would say cost is a big factor….
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I hear ya.
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Great post, Darlene! We do have so many choices as runners, and even though I probably wouldn’t have thought of it, FOMO really does play a huge part in some of my running choices. 🙂
Thanks so much for linking up!
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it so does – for good and bad.
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