I started this blog in 2007 and my last post is from spring 2018. I have come back here often since then, trying to figure it out. There are so many draft posts where I tried to tie the events of my life since that time to my present. But I have come to see… Continue reading Letting it go
So many of you commented after my last post. It seems I am not alone in trying to figure out what to do in this next phase of my life. I hate the phrase midlife crisis – there’s something so hackneyed and cliched about it. It works to reduce you, to make you feel that… Continue reading Training myself into the next phase, or how the sausage is made
This summer I’ve been running for 15 years. I can’t remember the exact date that I put on an old sports bra, some nasty shorts and a pair of running shoes that turned out to be two different sizes, but it was pretty much around now. I had a 6 month old and a 3… Continue reading Midlife running and reckoning
I haven’t blogged for months and the not blogging for months was threatening to let me not blog forever. When I blogged waaaaaaay back in – what, November of last year? – I promised myself I was back on the blogging wagon. And then I promptly fell of it again. Kinda hard, because here we… Continue reading On breaking a promise.
I last wrote here the day before I ran the London marathon. Since then, I went quiet. First here, and then also on social media. I’ve always been a crowdsourcer. In the best possible light, this means I am interested in what others think and in their advice. Less wonderfully, though, I have sometimes listened… Continue reading If nobody comments, is it still worth writing?
I’m in London to run the London marathon. I’ve trained differently for this race than I have trained for my other 11 marathons, and as a result I’m going into it quite unsure of the pace I will hold and the time I will end up with. I know I haven’t trained at the paces… Continue reading On racing a race you’re not going to win and still not sandbagging.
Over a year ago, I wrote a post called Begin Again. I knew that what I had been doing for the year before that wasn’t working. I knew that I needed to approach running with a different perspective and some fresh goals. But I didn’t know how to. I finished the post by asking for… Continue reading When the pupil is ready, the master appears. (It may take the pupil some time to realise this, however).
Sometimes past achievements are wonderful and inspiring. Unbelievable even – I look at my race photos and medals and think: I did an Ironman? Really? And other times these achievements hang over you like a burden – when I struggle to maintain a 9:30 min/mile I can feel crushed by the fact that I ran… Continue reading Begin again.
New year came too soon for me this year, or so it felt. We did so much traveling around before, during and after Christmas and New Year that much of that time was a blur to me – I don’t feel I ever sat down during those days without thinking of when I needed to get… Continue reading On Being Petra (and every dog has its day)
It’s January 1st, 2016, and I ran 4 miles today. Probably at around 10:30 min/mile, if not slower. If you’re thinking “Dayum! Girl’s got to run 53 hilly miles in 4 months! 4 miles is not very far!” I’d say yes – that’s true. 2 weeks ago I ran my biggest training week ever. I… Continue reading Happy new 2016
Petraruns 