Commitment is measured in all different ways, but sometimes it’s just about showing up at a fixed time, every week, to keep doing the thing, chasing the goal, and facing the challenges.
We run our commitment on Sunday mornings.
I get that a lot of people have other things going on Sundays: some people sleep in, others go for brunch, many sit in a pew somewhere, or maybe you’re the type of person who needs a full day in front of the TV to unwind before Monday strikes again.
Look, you don’t need to run on Sundays.
But I think—and this is just my take—that seriousness in anything starts with regular commitment. Picking an “I always run on this day at this time” plan and sticking with it could easily be the thing you look back on from the finish line of a race, medal proudly around your neck, and say “that’s it… that’s the thing that got me here.”
…because it’s not just about the day.
It’s about the promise: you are making one to yourself, to other people, and to the world by marking a day and time in the old calendar and not flaking on the appointment.
We run on Sunday mornings. You might run on Saturday night, or Monday afternoon, or every Friday at midnight. You be you… but swear an oath and RSVP to your own dedicated run-day and you won’t regret it.
Definitions
- august
- In the month of August where I live summer peaks and the days are often relatively hot (in the high 20s or low 30s) muggy, smokey and dry. Rain is infrequent, but when it arrives it comes in the form of drenching downpours and epic thunderstorms. We begin our runs earlier in the day because the local marathon runs late in the month and our training distances are maxing.
- goal
- In training lingo, a planned series of steps and milestones to reach some planned achievement: A race time. A race finish. A weekly mileage total. A streak. Or getting through an injury. Goals are personal and (for me) important.
- october
- Fully into autumn, October is a month of shifting seasons, short days, long shadows, and gorgeous sunsets. The cobwebs are hung on the eaves in preparation for halloween, and here in Canada we're running off Thanksgiving dinner for a couple weeks after a proper good meal mid-month.
- race
- You train and train and train some more, and then for no clear reason you pay a bunch of money to run as fast as you possibly can at a very specific time with a bunch of strangers along a course lined with more strangers (or along paths lined with trees if you are an ultra runner) at the end of which you are handed a medal and a banana and a sense of achievement unlike anything you will feel again (until you sign up for your next one.)
