This post has been a long time coming, but I think it’s an important area to address.  But first, a quick recap of my life and what’s going on in my neck of the woods.  Literally.

My untapering after my half was going great until it wasn’t.  I took off Monday and Tuesday from running and then picked it back up on Wednesday and Thursday.  I took Friday off from everything and got really excited about my impending long run on Saturday.  I had found a new trail by my house that I was stoked to try out and was going to give it a go.  I ran 7 miles total, but at mile 5, my ankle started giving me a little trouble.  I finished my run strong and headed home.  I thought about doing an extra mile with Boo to cooldown, but as soon as I started walking, I knew it wasn’t going to happen.

That night, I went in to Philly to hang out with some of my girlfriends and by the end of the evening, my ankle was swollen and it hurt to walk on it.  I’m about 95% sure it’s tendonitis, so I’m taking it nice and easy this week and rocking a pretty sweet ankle brace just to make sure I’m compressing it and not moving it in any funny angles.  Please reference my classiness below.

Other than this semi-disasterous issue that reared its ugly head this weekend, I had an awesome time hanging out with some of my fitness gals in Philly.  As I’ve mentioned before, we all met because we did Kayla Itsine’s BBG program and wanted to get together once a month to do a workout together.  This has grown into a huge meet-up of close to 50 girls getting together each month to have an awesome, sweaty time for an hour and then brunch.  It’s honestly the highlight of my month every month at this point.  But, I have a confession.  I don’t remember the last time I did a BBG workout.

I really loved the program when I started and attribute a lot of my strength now to it, but the circuits got old after awhile.  I wasn’t feeling challenged and the exercises seemed to get repetitive as I went from guide to guide, so I started to focus on other areas of fitness.

As you know, I got back into endurance running in the November timeframe and have since completed two half marathons (one on my own and the other at the Philly Love Run).  I love running and it’s something I plan to do for years and years to come, but it’s not the only thing I do and that’s fine by me.

I see girls latching on to different fitness plans and activities everyday, putting the creators of various guides, plans, or classes on pedestals and buying every product they wear or endorse.  It’s fine to enjoy your workout program, but remember that it doesn’t define you.  You should never be afraid to post something that isn’t related to a program that you’ve been doing for awhile.  You won’t lose followers and you won’t be lost in the gym if you don’t have someone telling you exactly what to do.  People grow and change.

It’s okay to not fit in to a certain workout demographic too.  As long as you are showing up, you’re doing something great.  Don’t be afraid to make what works for you a combo of a bunch of other things.  You can be a BBG girl and also like to go to kickboxing classes regularly, no one is going to come after you.  You can lift weights and also go to spin classes, and no one is going to unfollow you over it.  And if they do?  You probably didn’t want them following you anyway because they sound judge-y and terrible.

You can do whatever you want in any combination you want as long as it makes you happy.  I’m a runner, I do BBG, I lift weights, and I go to whatever darn classes I feel like but none of these things are what define me.  What defines me is who I am as a person, not what I do for an hour or so at the gym everyday.  Is it a big part of my life?  Yes, but it’s not the end all be all.  So, follow whatever plan you want or don’t, but know that you are so much more than what one person wrote down on a piece of paper and gave you over the internet.

Now for undeep fun times.  This video is just about perfect.  I was dying.

-sj