Week 8 – #ThoughtsAfterRunning

Nadia Jones will be covering her training for the 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!

Here are the weekly summaries so far if you want to catch up, if not scroll down for Week 4+5 updates!

• Week 1 – I cover The Galloway Run Walk Run Method, and I attempt to define the word “postpartum.”
• Week 2 – Stop trying to buy your training shoes yourself and go to a running specialty store. I also discuss how NOT to clean your running shoes.
• Week 3 – A good book, a New Year’s resolution, and some lessons from my first love (basketball) gave me some good #thoughtswhilerunning.
• Week 4+5 – Lessons on SelfDiscipline from Navy SEALs and how it relates to physical training
• Week 6 – How "getting benched” can produce perseverance, a reflection on Jalen Hurts’ journey to his big Super Bowl win and how we can grow during challenging times
• Week 7 – Being “Type A” and adopting the mantra, “Done better than perfect.”

You know the game two truths and a lie? It’s usually used as a team building game, played to break the ice and almost always make everyone feel awkward whether they are introverted or not. The point of the game is to tell two truths and a lie about yourself, then the group/team is supposed to decide which “fact” out of the 3 was really the lie. The key to winning this game is telling some absurd fact about yourself that is actually true, but pretty unbelievable. One of my friends told me that Ke$ha was her friend growing up – and the best part about this is it wasn’t a lie. Get the point now?

One of my favorite truths to tell disguised as a lie is that before being an influencer became a career, I had an anonymous Twitter handle with over 50k followers. Now I know in 2025 50k followers would be nothing to quit my day job over, BUT at the time it seemed kinda neat, I guess. If you’ve kept up with these last 8 weeks (Mom, Elliott, and my new friend Allison), it won’t shock you that writing is therapeutic for me. I started @track_probs on Twitter after I tore my ACL and spent many lonely days away from my teammates in physical therapy and the training room. My identity to that point had been wrapped up in being an athlete on a team, not an injured one alone in the training room. Which let’s be honest, my physical therapists and athletic trainers became my new family, and I am forever grateful for each one of them. @Track_probs was my way of wrapping my despair in a laugh. A way to take a negative thought captive and just laugh at it - in 140 characters (back in my twitter days) of course.  

“Hashtags” were BIG back when I was active on Twitter – which let me say, I had to Google the official new name of Twitter (X) because it’s been THAT long since I’ve been on it. I like to joke that my husband is the only person on Twitter (I mean X), but in truth I think we are the only people not on TikTok. Hashtags may or may not be a thing in 2025 – although I do still love to say “hashtag” out loud to really emphasize a point I am trying to make like #truth or #nofilter. I am giving you permission to #unfollow me after admitting that.

In 2011 when @track_probs was born, one of my favorite hashtags to follow (besides #trackprobs) was #thoughtswhilerunning. I always got a kick out of #thoughtswhilerunning and it had nothing to do with loving running by any means. It was more the intent of the hashtag. People all around the world sharing ironic and humorous thoughts that came to mind while they were running. 

TBH as a former thrower and jumper (you know the “and Field” in Track and Field) - when I first started following the hashtag I couldn’t fathom having a single thought while running because I despised it so much. It wasn’t until I finished track at The University of Alabama in Huntsville that I gave “recreational running” a try. It was way easier to pick up running as a hobby in graduate school because it required no special equipment, no opposing team, no special arena to perform in - it didn’t even require a gym membership.

Like any relationship, I have experienced highs and lows with running. The lows have always been accompanied by an over obsession, compulsive, and idolizing attitude with running. This is really true of anything in life that I have put on a pedestal above my relationship with the Lord. There were also some lows postpartum when I was peeing on myself and leaking breastmilk every time I tried to increase my mileage. Today I can say that I am grateful for a healthy balance of training that includes running (and walking) because it has allowed me to do something very difficult and very important in this season of my life. Turn my brain off.

I can’t tell you all the times I experienced joy WHILE running, but I have. For me the joy of running hits in the space after ramping up to your aerobic threshold and before the physical pain sets in. Precisely when my #thoughtswhilerunning stop. When I am not thinking about all the things I need to think about #thinkaboutthat. Does the period come before the hashtag or after? #whoknows #whocares

As I wrap up Week 8 and prepare to enter the last third of training to Run Walk the Tuscaloosa Half Marathon, I have had some #thoughtswhilerunning that I felt needed a home outside of my brain. I am going to call these #thoughtsafterrunning and I am sharing them on this week’s blog post not because I claim to be any sort of running expert, but because I hope they will meet you who may be training as well at the right time and place. If they don’t provide you any sort of help, I hope they at least make you laugh a little bit.

Nadia’s recent #ThoughtsWhileRunning turned #ThoughtsAfterRunning

• Know the route ahead of time – Took a few wrong turns a few long runs ago and had to work a little harder than I wanted to in order to catch back up with the group, this also made me think more than I wanted to on the run.
• Carb load and hydrate in advance– I will be seeking professional advice on this one soon because I’ve never done this right. Drew Shamblin who owns Element Fitness and the ATS Method has been helping me with my protein intake for CrossFit and I plan to check in with him about carb loading this week. I did eat an entire cheese pizza before running the “Social Distanced” version of the Tuscaloosa Half Marathon back in 2020. I couldn’t figure out why I craved that pizza the night before so bad, I found out a week later I was 9 weeks pregnant when I ran that particular half.
• Get up early enough to use your own clean bathroom a few times I am already dreading having to use a porta-potty at the Tuscaloosa Half Marathon. I know I will have to use it at least once. I am not bougie about cars, clothes, or self-care; I am extremely bougie when it comes to using a clean bathroom. Maybe Heat Pizza will open for me before the run? Maybe I can try eating a whole pizza right before the race. Just kidding!
• Run in the clothes you are going to race in, or the same style at least– I once trained for the whole half wearing leggings and then wore shorts on race day. Worst chafing ever. I had to walk like I was riding a bull for the next week. If you want to train in leggings and wear shorts on race day, please do yourself a favor and don’t. This would be the same for wearing sleeves while training and then deciding to wear a tank top on race day.
• Check the weather before you race and be prepared to part with the layers you shed – if it’s cold at the start of the race, I am guaranteeing you that you will be hot after the first 2-3 miles. Wear layers and be prepared to never see what you shed again. RIP Nike pullover from 2022 Tuscaloosa Half. Glad this was a thrift store find to begin with and hope someone else is enjoying it.
• Make sure your running application is up to date before you start running – thank goodness for the group runs because my first long run I spent the whole time running, waiting for my Nike Running application to update after not using it for over 2 years. While not the same as driving under the influence, running while being on your phone is also dangerous. Please just don’t.
• Hit start on your running application – Got to talking with a friend a few group runs prior and forgot to hit start on my run. Good thing I am practicing the art of “done is better than perfect” because I did not let my compulsive behavior allow me to run extra mileage just so my running application would believe I actually ran 8 miles.
• Race the way you train – if you think you are going to get out there and shave several minutes off your time because you got out fast with all the starters, you are wrong. If you’ve been training to Run Walk and think you’ll set a PR if you just run the whole thing – don’t. You will hit the wall. You will crash. Don’t do it.
• Pace yourself– As stated above, if your goal is to finish at or around a certain time know what pace you need to run and know this NOW. Don’t try to get 10 minutes faster on race day. Unless you are #builtbygoggins (week 4+5), you will not finish in the top 100 if you haven’t been training for it all along. Remember I can say this, this is #nadiathought don’t get #offended. If you have defy this thought of mine and set a PR I will personally buy you your own cheese pizza.
• Smile when you see a camera, even if you have to fake it– trust me, you’ll like the fake smile better than the one they would have taken of you if you didn’t grin and bear it.
• Remember the .1 to go at the end of the race– My friend Shannon ran the Tuscaloosa Half with me for my Bachelorette weekend back in 2016, she told me this very thing. What did I do? I forgot the .1 at the end of the race and literally screamed and cried for the remaining distance about how I couldn’t see the finish line. This felt like the longest part of the race.

Whether it’s running, golfing, lifting, painting, singing, dancing, writing, you name it – I hope you find something that challenges you, gives you joy, and allows you to stop thinking about all the things you have to think about all the time.

Quote of the Week – Week 8

“Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.” – Bob Newhart

Playlist – Week 8

1. Sandstorm – Darude – My girlies love this song, my almost 2-year old requests “Dan-dorm” when we turn Alexa on for dance parties.
2. Zombie Nation – Kernkraft 400 – Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, song is played at many sporting events and will definitely amp you up!
3. Levels – Avicii – Another one that you won’t be able to help move your head side to side while running.