31 Days of Running in December: Marcothon 2019

Have you ever thought about making and keeping a promise to yourself?  I used to run a lot more than I have over the last two and a half years.  I used to really consider myself a runner.  I was proud of my meager sub 2-hour half marathon time and was proud of the fact that I usually ran 2-3 half marathon’s a year.  But when I started my business I let stress derail me from keeping my running commitments on track for myself.  I started to believe work was more important than running, but here’s the thing for me.  Health is one of my core values and running and health for me personally are something that I believe go hand in hand.  So I’ve known that running needs to become a priority again for sometime.

3 years ago thanks to my friend Susan and my friend Dorothy I did a December challenge called Marcothon.  The way Marcothon works is that you run every day in the month of December a minimum of 25 minutes or 3 miles.  I remembered really enjoying the challenge and feeling strong when it was over.  It was also useful for getting myself outside in a dark, cold and ugly month. 

I’ve been pretty depressed this year, a combination of the grief, health challenges and filing for bankruptcy.  I knew that December this year would be extra tough and a challenge like Marcothon would be a really great idea for me this year.  In fact, I’d dreamed about doing Marcothon almost all of 2019.  That’s a strange thing to say, but I did I’ve thought of doing Marcothon since my dad died.  I even promised myself back in October of this year that I would complete Marcothon again this year.   Running every day in December would be my way of recommitting to my own health and recommitting to running.   

Then on thanksgiving day, just a few days before marcothon I got a terrible cold.  I felt physically HORRIBLE but I kept thinking about how I’d made that promise to myself a few months back that I would do Marcothon this year for me damn it!  Yes, I was sick, but I wanted to do Marcothon because I wanted to keep a promise to myself that had nothing to do with work, it purely had to do with putting my health first in December, making sure I got exercise, sunshine and ended 2019 knowing that I’d kept a really important promise to myself.

Starting Marcothon with the worst cold I’ve had all year was disappointing to say the least.  It made the challenge extra challenging, but I figured I would feel cruddy if I ran or not, so I might as well run. And that’s what I did even though the first 12 days I was really sick. 

Once again, I was amazed by what my body can do. Marcothon isn’t about losing weight, and physically for me it’s not that hard, but mentally especially on nights when it’s cold, or dark, or I’ve had a terrible day and I just don’t want to go out.  I still went out and ran even on the really hard night.  I ran on the days I didn’t feel good and I did it to keep a promise to myself.   I also got to bond with all of the other crazy people in Greensboro who did Marcothon too. 

What a tremendous gift I gave myself.  And tomorrow January 1st 2020 what will I do?  Well, I’m going to to go for a trail run, because I like to to start the new year with a run.  It’s a ritual that makes me feel good.  Then January 2nd, I’ll rest for a day.

What promise have you been thinking about keeping for yourself?