Nadia Jones will be covering her training for the next 3 months leading up to the Tuscaloosa Half Marathon. If you would like to follow her journey, you can visit this blog each week for updates!

My undergraduate work in biology and math built a firm foundation for the left side of my brain in regard to being more analytical, objective, and logical. Being a mom has surely strengthened the right side of my brain, giving more weight to intuition, feelings, and emotions. One of the things I love about being a physical therapist is using both sides of my brain together continuously when caring for patients. This ability to integrate the two hemispheres in the workplace daily has made me more in tune with my own physical and mental health.

A few weeks ago, I was not feeling like myself. While I couldn’t put a finger on the reason, I just felt “off.” Right side brain take over. As I write this, the dichotomy of being in the state of pre-pregnancy and then “postpartum” makes me tremble and laugh all at the same time.

Postpartum defined by the Cleveland Clinic:

“Postpartum (or postnatal) refers to the period after childbirth. Most often, the postpartum period is the first six to eight weeks after delivery, or until your body returns to its pre-pregnancy state. But the symptoms and changes that occur during the postpartum period can last far beyond eight weeks.”

I tremble at the fact that “far beyond eight weeks” is a pretty accurate definition in some sense. I would argue that for many women your body never returns to “its pre-pregnancy state” – I mean, hello menopause?! I am 21 months postpartum with my second daughter and while externally I may not appear much different, aside from all the gray hair, I can honestly tell you that my ship has sailed far beyond the “State of Pre-Pregnancy” with no plans on returning. I waved “Bon Voyage!” practically 5 years ago, not fully understanding the journey I was about to start.

I laugh because after everything my body has been through in the last 4-5 years, it’s things like “feeling off” that make me pick up the phone and call a professional.

So long story short, some of my hormones are a little out of whack. We discussed a few options for getting things regulated in a way that made me feel less “off.” When I mentioned that I had probably exercised 0.75 times a week (that’s less than 1 time a week for you non-math people) in the last 2-3 years, we decided to try to get back to “pre-pregnancy behaviors” (i.e. exercising more) and see if this will regulate things more. To be continued on what actually happens.

This is getting to be a long introduction to why I am choosing to use the Galloway Run Walk Run Method to do either the Tuscaloosa Half Marathon OR the 5k – I am still undecided.

In our current culture, we are constantly being bombarded with information about what you should be doing at all times of your day - by people we don’t really know, I might add. If you let it, it’s easy to allow social media to become your internal thermostat for how you are doing in life. Here’s some advice. Don’t. Something I’ve gained postpartum that I lacked prior to having my daughters, is the ability to extend myself grace. I gave myself grace when I chose chasing my toddler around on the playground and naps on the weekend over exercise in my second pregnancy. I gave myself grace when I chose nursing and sleeping instead of getting up for the 5:30 am CrossFit class I regularly attended during my “pre-pregnancy state.” I gave myself an abundance of grace when I chose to eat Bluebell Vanilla Bean ice cream for 3 months straight every night instead of trying to squeeze in a late-night Peloton ride. Yeah, I bought one secondhand when I was pregnant with my second thinking it would be a game changer and in reality, it just made me angry that I paid for something I wasn’t using – but then I gave myself grace for that too. I gave myself grace when Mom Brain (this is a real phenomenon) led me to signing up for the Mayor’s Cup instead of the Tuscaloosa Half Marathon (THM) 5k. I went on to signing up for the right race and I ran the Tuscaloosa Half Marathon 5k race last year untrained. Yeah, I wanted to quit about 45 seconds into it, but hey – thank ya grace! Then I also went on to run the Mayor’s Cup so I didn’t have more buyer’s remorse than I already had for having a  Peloton in my house collecting dust – hello grace. For someone who knows a lot about all the benefits of exercise, sleeping, and eating a healthy diet (and being CONSTANTLY bombarded by this information on social media), I gave myself HEAPING amounts of grace the last few years. I also plan on continuing  to give myself grace.

Feeling “off” a few weeks ago was just a small piece in my decision to commit myself to exercising regularly this year. I could digress, but this blog is already getting long, and I will need more info to write about as I continue to update my readers (probably just my husband and mom after this blog) on my training. My pre-pregnancy self couldn’t fathom why anyone wouldn’t take time to exercise (or drink coffee -that’s another long story for another day), but my postpartum self has empathy and grace for those who are having difficulty making even the first step towards taking care of themselves.

I am committing to exercising regularly (3-4 times a week), but I am not committing to the Half Marathon or the 5k for another few weeks. I have even blocked my work schedule to do CrossFit at lunch, because I do work in an awesome gym – why not work out at work! I want to be disciplined in a way that prevents injury and keeps my commitment to myself, but not so rigid that I wallow in disappointment and self-pity if I miss the mark during the week. Although, I have asked my friends to hold me accountable to actually doing CrossFit if I block it on my calendar and not working through lunch like I tend to do.

For those of you that are victims of click bait and clicked the link to this blog to learn more about Galloway’s Run Walk Run Method, here’s the one paragraph I talk about it. Galloway’s Run Walk Run method aims to help reduce injury and improve recovery while also allowing participants to enjoy the many benefits of running. New runners have used the method to get into running, while experienced runners who have dealt with chronic injuries have used it to fall back in love with running. It is what it says it is, a strategy for running and walking a race. As a postpartum mother of two, I am using the Run Walk Run method to fight the good fight and just finish the race – prepared and uninjured!

One thing I have been consistent in doing in my adult life, besides coffee drinking, has been writing. I tend to journal a lot personally and for my daughters. Every now and then I let out a train of my thoughts on Facebook because despite what I said about social media earlier, I do believe being genuine and vulnerable can help someone else on their journey. I always feel the need to put out a statement that says I am not trying to be an influencer – in fact, I have many times written something and deleted it because I didn’t want to leave a piece of my heart on the internet to be misinterpreted for me trying to promote myself. Ultimately, writing is a way for me to process the “goings on” of life. I pray often that God would give me wisdom and revelation. I hear God’s voice when I am reading His Word, but when I put pen to paper (or fingers to the keyboard I suppose) I have more understanding of who He is and what He is doing.

All of this to say, if you have made it to this part of the blog post, postpartum or not, I pray that you are encouraged. I pray that you give yourself grace for the season you are in and that you don’t compare what you are going through to those around you. I pray that you find strength and courage to take your next step, regardless of the route or pace you are traveling to get there.

Week 1 Quote

“Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” – Coach Barnette. He was my high school basketball coach that to this day I can still quote up and down. At the time I didn’t realize that he wasn’t just trying to make us better basketball players, he was trying to make us better humans.

Week 1 Playlist

1. I’m Shipping Up to Boston – Dropkick Murphys – Good way to start the Run Walk, makes me think of my daughter Brady Joon whose name is inspired by the great city of Boston.

2. Barbossa is Hungry - Klaus Badelt – My daughter Rory is obsessed with Pirates of the Cari-Beans, as she calls it. This song is rising in popularity on Amazon because we listen to it so much at our house. Good mid Run Walk when you start questioning when it will end.

3. WIN [Clean] – Jay Rock – Saved this one for the end, everyone needs to pump themselves up at the end of the race a little bit and WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN.