A few weeks ago, I told you guys how I set a weekly running goal of 25 K per week with my friend, and Runtastic Ambassador, Sabrina (also known as @runningbrina). It was a fun accountability goal we had with each other – but now that she’s training for a marathon, she’s definitely not having a problem reaching that goal.
At the point of writing my last blog posting about it, I had already reached my goal 2 weeks in a row. And then what happened next, I didn’t reach my goal 2 weeks in a row. Oh my gosh :puts hands on heart very dramatically: …AM I A FAILURE?
It’s devastating, right? To think that someone in the fitness industry has goals and perhaps doesn’t reach them??? Haha, this is all totally sarcastic and (as you probably already know) this is not the direction I am going.
What happened in Berlin?
I was in Berlin the weekend before the-2-week-no-goal-reaching-devastation-situation for the adidas Runners City Night Run 2017 and to be a part of an awesome weekend program with tons of the adidas female employees. You can see our group picture below, it was right before we started the night run!
We arrived in Berlin on a Friday and I started to feel a sore throat on Saturday when I woke up, but I just kept on going. Saturday we did a 3-hour street art bike tour, I taught a surprise workout for the Runtastic Results Berlin Group and did the 10-k city night run in the evening – that’s like basically asking to get sick when you’re already run down. Sunday I woke up feeling pretty good after rubbing On Guard essential oil (EO) on my feet and rubbing Melaleuca EO with coconut oil on my neck (email me at [email protected] for more info about that :)).
Sunday we gave a presentation to the adidas ladies at this incredible brunch location with an outdoor beach. I was excited to find out that this is also the location of the Runtastic LIVE Workout Party coming up here in just a few short weeks! After the brunch we moved on to the adidas Run Base Berlin (freakin’ amazing!) and enjoyed lots of good company and amazing food. I didn’t participate in any workouts or courses because I new I wasn’t feeling 100% and I wanted to be as strong as possible..
So, I was feeling pretty good (despite all the activity and little baby sore throat) and I was like “I got this!” Then our flight was delayed and redirected to land in Bratislava instead of Vienna. One long taxi ride + train ride got us back home around 2am and my body was just dead. The next morning I woke up and didn’t really end up getting out of bed (besides for food and bathroom breaks) for 4 days.
The first week I didn’t reach my goal…
After the 10k city night run, I was 4 K away from my 25 K per week goal. I didn’t reach it that week because I would have had to do a 4 K slow run on Sunday (which I totally planned on doing after previously calculating the km of the week), but that was just not an option…I could feel myself getting run down.
The second week I didn’t reach my goal…
Then the 4 days sick at home came and I decided to take a full 8 days off of training. I only walked outside around day 6 in order to move a bit and get some fresh air. I wanted to stay away from all the nasty gym-germs and keep as healthy as possible. It’s not BAD to go to a gym because of the germs, it’s just not the ideal place to be hanging out with a weakened immune system – that’s all. Recovery is so important <3
OMG Did I Fail?? 4 Incredible Things About Failure
1. Failure is your friend
Everybody fails at one time or another. You have to have that “bring it on” mentality and EXPECT that it might happen time and time again (not every time, we’re not doomed and we create our own bad luck in our minds). When you become friends with failure, you’re not so devastated and down (for very long) when you encounter it. You’re more resilient.
2. You get to become more resilient
When I see people overcome great obstacles, tragedies, heroic feats it’s really incredible and truly inspiring. There’s always people out there who have less than you and are making it work – get back up, shake off the dust and go for it again. Redirect your approach (take some days/weeks off) and get back into the game full force. The more you practice resilience the better you’ll get and more instinctual it will become.
3. You get to own your failures – it helps people
Being honest about when you fuck up and trying to learn from it is amazing. I am not a failure (or success) hider – sharing this helps and empowers other people to own up to all the MESS that’s happening in their MESSterpiece (amazing word my dear friend, coach and creator of The Warrior Cleanse, Diane Kazer, created). Now, I don’t want to be an emotional baggage unloader and you’ll probably never hear me write a post ranting about all of my problems. I like to think critically (with myself or others) about what these problems mean and how big of a setback are they really are. When I’ve found a solution, or an okay jumping off point to get back in the game – you’ll probably hear about it. OWN THEM, be authentic <3
4. You’re allowed to mess up (perfect is boring)
Nobody said you have to be perfect. Please don’t be perfect – be you. Every failure can be a setup to a new direction or a new jumping off point – so take those “free learning” cards and play them. My dad always says, “Play the cards you’re dealt.” Play the best hand you can with what you have…failures included.
So…am I failure?
Of course I am not a failure. I failed…but that does not make me who I am. I own my failure and move forward – and that’s what I am encouraging you to do as well. Pick up all the broken pieces and keep on trucking my friends. Shake off the dust and keep on keeping on.
The worst thing you can do is get so “turned off” or discouraged by the small setbacks that you don’t get back up at all – to me, that’s WAY worse than failing.