stoke the fire…

     My husband Ian is gearing up to run a half marathon next Saturday, and this is just a leg of his training journey for a 100K he’s running at the end of September. This will definitely be the longest and hardest distance he has ever run by far. The last two years he has done a 20 miler, and quite frankly this both blows my mind and inspires me. 
    You have to understand that my husband is not athletic and never has been. He didn’t play sports in high school or college; he played tuba in the marching band. He has his masters in English and loves to read Star Wars books. So how the hell does this man end up training to run a 100K? He too was inspired. 
​    His friend started running ultra marathons and then started a supplement company with his wife specifically for ultra marathoners. As an extension of this business, they hosted their first 100 mile/100K/20 mile race at the Hell Creek loop at the lake in Wilson, Ks. Ian wanted to be supportive, so with zero running experience he signed up for the shortest distance of 20 miles. Not only did he not die, he signed up again last year, and despite the fact that he was beyond exhausted, he decided on the way home from that race that he would do 100K this year. 
    If you’ve read any of my previous blogs then you know about the physical limitations of my body due to a myriad of health concerns. I will never, ever be able to run 100K, nor do I want to; however, I will always be there to cheer my husband on and support him in any way that I can. I will also continue to nurture this spark his dedication has inspired. This is day 6 of my 100 days of writing blog posts, and this is also the most I have written in as long as I can remember.
   My passion isn’t running, it’s creating and for ages now, I’ve put it off. I’ve neglected this blog, my podcast, my polymer clay, and a public speaking course I paid good money for. I’ve let my ADHD and my exhaustion back me into a corner, and it’s high time that I started taking care of myself. I’m working toward spending less time on the things that don’t feed me, and more time on the things that do. I’m opening myself up to learning as much as I possibly can about my ADHD and figuring out what actually works for me.
     I don’t have to run an ultra or measure myself by a neurotypical yardstick. I can instead choose to be inspired by the passion behind other people’s pursuits and stoke that fire in myself for the things that make me happy. I can find joy in the journey and start letting all that other shit go.