DNS = Did Not Start

DNS. Did…Not…Start. That will be me tomorrow at the Ludington Lakestride Half Marathon. It would have been my seventh half, second time running the Lakestride. Instead of toeing up at the start tomorrow morning, I'll be sitting on the deck in my PJ's, drinking coffee. (Actually, when you put it that way, DNS sounds pretty good!)

So, why the DNS? I signed up for the half back in January, long before I knew I'd be starting this #HRT journey. The suggestion of my coach (as told to other mother runners in my #HRT group), is that unless you can treat these 13.1 miles as an easy training run – keeping your heart rate under 140BPM, don't run. That means I'd have to swallow my pride and run 2-3 minutes per mile slower than my half marathon in April. Not doing it.

I know I'd get swept up in the excitement and push myself.

It's guaranteed that my inner competitive side would take over and I'd want to pass people and prove that I'm not always this slow.

I'm not even going to put myself in the situation. No running. I am, however, picking up my race packet this evening – first time ever I've gotten a shirt for a race I didn't run. Yes, seems a little like cheating, but it's not like it's a Boston Marathon shirt for goodness sake. It can't be that big of a runner-code no-no.

Tomorrow morning I'll remind myself that I've made the right decision. I am #coachedandloved and #trustingtheprocess