Happy Thought #1 – Running With My Family

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you’ve had wonderful, safe holiday season.

I’ve had family with me for the holidays (safely) so I haven’t been posting much but I’ll have a nice, longer post coming soon. In the meantime, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on the last year and things I want to continue or start doing with the fresh slate that is 2021.

As part of that reflection, I’ve decided to start a new practice on my blog – posting at least one happy thought per day. It’s appropriate, right?

Too often, it’s easy for all of us to get caught up in what’s going wrong around us. But, as we’ve already learned, our thoughts are powerful and focusing on the positive can have a tremendous effect on our ability to see more of the good that’s in our lives.

So, for today, the first day of 2021, my first happy thought is that I’m so grateful I started running about 6 years ago.

Prior to that, I would have NEVER said I’d be a runner. Despite that, I did have a bucket list goal to run a marathon. My mom and husband had an interest, too, so we all started running. 6 years later, we’ve done multiple half marathons and more 5ks, 10ks, and 15ks than I can count. For those who are reading closely, yes, that does mean I haven’t met my marathon goal yet but that’s a post for another day.

There are so many reasons running ended up being such a good move for me:

• The obvious health benefits of aerobic exercise.
• My mom, husband, and I have run most of our races together so we now have this wonderful activity in common.
• My mom and I typically run together during a race so we have had lots of extra mother-daughter time over the years.
• My running time is thinking time. In fact in the last year I’ve started listening to podcasts during runs, which means I get some entertainment and personal development in at the same time.
• I’ve run more and further than I ever thought I would before, which has helped me truly internalize the thought that I’m stronger than I realize.
• I’ve made some wonder new friends as part of this.

This morning, my mom and I did a virtual 5k to kick off the new year, and I wouldn’t trade that time or experience for anything in the world.

What are you happy about or grateful for as we launch into 2021? I can’t wait to hear from you!