There’s a spot on my running route that always gets me.
It’s just a small hill about a quarter-mile in, one that’s hardly epic, nothing to break a big sweat over, but for some reason, I’m always a breathless, gasping mess by the top, every single time. It doesn’t matter if I’m only out for a quick three-miler or a weekend long run. Breathless by the top. Every. Single. Time.
Now, about ten strides later? I feel fully recovered as though it never happened, ready to charge ahead. Still. The fact that this hill leaves me so tired and wheezy bothered me for the longest time. I’ve tried extending my warm-up, running at a slower pace, shortening my stride, lengthening my stride, what have you, it doesn’t matter.
Breathless. Every. Single. Time.
So rather than fight it, I’ve learned that the best way to deal with this hill is to slow to a walk if only for .05 miles, allowing myself to catch my breath and save my strength before charging ahead at the peak.
I tried doing the same with this blog.
Posting over the summer felt too much like a fight, one I was sorely losing. Between the stress of work, finishing a novel, and some family issues, I just didn’t have the energy to charge ahead, slapping up some haphazard posts that–quite frankly–would only suck. So I decided to take a break, slow to a walk, save my strength for other battles before jumping back into things.
Now I’m back.
Kind of.
I don’t know.
See, here’s the problem. I’ve been having another identity crisis with this blog, trying to figure out what it represents and who I’m writing for. Writers? Runners? Readers? Disney World and runDisney addicts such as myself? I mean, OH MY GOSH, I could write at least ten entries about my awesome, amazing, wonderfully fantastic Tower of Terror 10-Miler All Girls’ Vacation I returned from last week. (We got chosen to be Grand Marshals of the Festival of Fantasy Parade and Magic Kingdom, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!)
However, I don’t think many writers want to read my rambles about running a race dressed like Gaston. (Wow, that was a lot of R’s!) And runners might not want to learn how to get the most from a writer’s conference.
So like I said.
Serious identity crisis.
Creating a separate blog again just ain’t happening. I tried that once before with my Run. Write. Rejoice spin-off and I just couldn’t keep up. Besides. There’s so many other awesome blogs that I’ve listed here that do such a kick-butt job covering the running/runDisney scene that I enjoy reading them more than trying to keep up!
I even tossed around the idea of going back to my website’s original title, Writing Without Reins, that I changed in … what, 2010? 2011? But I don’t ride horses any more and–oh please–I’ve hardly been writing freely without reins on this blog for quite some time. I used to, though, a long, long time ago. I loved blogging about anything and everything, from the weird random thoughts that keep me up at night, or my predictions on who is going to win Project Runway.
For the record? My boy Kini has it in the bag this season!! Love, love, LOVE Kini. Don’t you just want to hug him?
So long blog post short, I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way for me to figure out what to do with this blog is to stop with the walk break and keep charging ahead, posting whatever my little heart desires–whether it’s about writing or running or my favorite snacks at Disney World, what have you–until the answer is revealed to me.
And you can bet I’m going to talk about this:
Break over. Time to get back to work!
