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This is me, about to start a run on last week. Daphne came along, and slept contently in the chariot, not making a peep… until I turned around and was three miles from home. Thankfully she fell back asleep at let me push her quietly the rest of the way. We went for 7.5 miles, the farthest I’ve gone in probably 7 months or more. (Runner confession : I generally don’t do a great job of tracking my mileage). On this run I felt distinctly different. More like myself, and not the pregnant version I had been.

Deciding to run a triathlon after having a baby was just a way to trick myself. Yes, I do enjoy triathlons and racing… but not when I’m out of shape. I signed up so that I would have a goal. I knew that I needed something to look towards and commit to so that my efforts would not just be focused on reversing my suddenly changed and out of shape body. It was pretty easy to be focused on that.

In addition to getting a training plan from my husband the coach, I started talking with my good friend Julie. She lives in Moab and hearing her stories about climbing in the red rock landscape make me want to move out there. The grass is always greener, right? She has her own business (hooray small business owners!) consulting to help people perform to the best of their ability both athletic and otherwise – but you could sum it up by saying she’s a sports psychologist. While Matt could tell me what to run when it was up to Julie to help me do the run.

I knew that with a baby I would have even more – and often legitimate – excuses for why I didn’t have time for running. I already have more wrinkles from the last three months than I do from the past year, so I definitely have been missing out on sleep. So how would I actually commit to training and not just skip every workout to take a nap?

It hasn’t been easy. Most days there is an internal dialogue battling back and forth convincing me to stay home or go out. The hardest part is getting started on the workout. With Julie I’ve worked on reconstructing my thought process and priorities so that I make time for workouts and more often than not get out the door to complete them more successfully.

I love it. I find sports psychology intriguing, especially after having the opportunity to be tested regularly as a collegiate runner. I’ve seen how my mind easily doubts and makes excuses… with everything, not just athletics. The way we approach our whole lives is tied in to how we view ourselves, face challenges, and learn from experiences. Maybe that’s why I love running. I’ve learned so much about life through my experience as a runner, and most of all I’ve learned that you can do a lot more than you think you can.