Welcome to Wednesday Word, a monthly linkup for everyone, not just health and fitness bloggers. On the first Wednesday of every month you will have a single word prompt to write about. Let your imagination run free and share with your readers your interpretation of that word, or simply use it as inspiration for your post. Today’s word is struggle… I’d love to have you link up, and if you do, please remember to follow my six simple rules.

 

Struggle
To make strenuous or violent efforts
In the face of difficulties or opposition;
To proceed with difficulty or with great effort
~ Merriam-Webster

 

Two weeks ago when I started this post, I mused at how perfectly this month’s Wednesday Word fit into my current situation. I wrote the following and then put my post on the back burner until earlier this week.

Remember when I shared that I wanted to PR at the OBX Half Marathon for my sixtieth birthday?

With a 1:54:34 PR set in 2014, I knew that running a new PR would be really tough, but doable under perfect racing conditions, so I set a 1:54:20 goal for my race. (my plan determines workout paces based on the race goal set at the beginning of the training cycle).

Coming off of two back-to-back late winter injuries, I struggled coming even close to my plan’s goal paces during the early weeks of my training cycle. After a what seemed like endless failures, my times finally started getting faster and I found hitting my goal paces to be easier and easier. Even my warm-up and cool-down paces got significantly faster while exerting the same effort.

On Sunday evening as I revisited my post to wrap it up and wrote the following.

Last Monday, I had a little setback of sorts. I had minor surgery just above my knee to remove an abnormal growth on my skin resulting in a 2.5-inch incision. As a result, I spent last week resting and keeping my leg propped up as much as possible. This week I am easing back into weight training while working on the range of motion in my knee. I’ve been released to start going on walks, and next week, two weeks after my last previous run, I’ll be able to try running again. Setting that PR is now looks doubtful, but I’ll give it my best shot.

Yes, the struggle is real, but in reality this is nothing compared to what so many others are going through. Yes, with my history I have to be vigilant and aware of any little changes to my skin, but every new place I find reminds me of the importance of early detection.

Perhaps struggles are placed in our paths to make us stronger.

 

But then, as I did my final read before scheduling this to post, I thought about the struggles so many of our fellow Americans are going through as they rebuild their lives after the devastation from recent hurricanes. I thought about the struggles of families who just received word of the untimely death of their loved ones in Las Vegas, and both the physical and mental struggles that will have to be dealt with by the surviving victims.

On second thought, mine is not really a struggle, mine is just a little bump on the running trail…

 

What has made you struggle recently? 

 

Grab My Button!

Deb Runs


Next Month’s Wednesday Word: Discipline