If Your Friend Told You To Go Run A Marathon, Would You??

     I find myself preaching to my kids all of the time, "You are who you hang around with". One of my kiddos had an incident at school the other day and if one kid got in trouble, they all did. I admire the teacher who enforced that punishment. In fact, I applaud her.

     Moral to the story? If you don't want to be associated with something or someone, remove yourself from the situation. I found myself using the old phrase, You know the one...the one that your Mom used to tell you, "If your friends told you to go jump off a bridge, would you?"....

     This was a situation that turned out not-so-good for some of the kids. However, not all peer pressure is bad.

     The bridge phrase got me thinking.."How could I relate this concept to my own life?" The concept works and it's genius! Accountability or "pressure" between your peers can be a beautiful thing. 

     One of the reasons that I love the social media world so much is that I get to see a little glimpse of people either through a Facebook status, and Insta-moment, or through a 140 character clever statement. Granted, these little snippets are just that. Little snippets. Most likely, they do not represent that person's entire life or maybe they do. Some people post some things that I would just rather not see! But, for the most part, most of my friends post good things with a little drama thrown in every now and then. Not gonna lie, the drama makes for good late-night reading. ;) Personally, I do not share everything about my life on Social Media. There are just some things that only my close friends or family know and that is just the way I intend to keep it. #SorryNotSorryCreepers. 

     I say all of the above because I do love to see the progress, the dreams, the goals, and the accomplishments that my online friends post. Again, you ARE who you hang around with or who you communicate with. Online or off.

     There is nothing I love more than waking up on a Saturday or Sunday morning and seeing hundreds of my friends posing with medals that they earned, Garmins (or Nike+ Sport Watch in my case) full of miles they ran, families on vacation at Walt Disney World or just overall silliness that just makes me laugh. 

Social Ramblings :)

     I like to throw out a "good job", a "woohoo" or a "have a magical day"! I like to keep up with friends that I know are training for their first race, heading to Disney for their first time or ran their longest distance. Sure, it's a time-sucker but I find myself seeing those running posts and suddenly I feel the urge to get my training miles out there! Am I an over-poster?!? Probably so, but I don't really care. The last time I checked, my accounts were my accounts. I'm inspired daily by these posts and I hope someone out there is inspired by mine.

If you follow me on Instagram, then you know that I post most of my training runs.
And I'm totally OKAY with that.

     Lately, I've been training for several marathons and one of my BFF running partners, Carrie and I have decided to hold each other accountable. We don't really post it online but we are all about sticking it to each other. I could NEVER post some of the texts that we shoot off to each other. Some go like this..."Girl. No you didn't." or "Are you kidding me?" There's no sugar-coating it. Speak your mind. Keep it real....We need to be on the same page and since we live hundreds of miles from each other, this is the next best thing that we could do. We like to have a ballpark idea of where where we are in our training. So far so good. 

Keep Me posted.

          Having friends who run in your same circle is just a part of life. And we all know that life is full of its ups and downs. I just try to keep my circles as full with positive uplifting people as possible. I will have to say that I am having to go against what I preach to my kids just a bit though because when my girl Carrie asked me if I wanted to run the Full or the Half Marathon in Las Vegas...without two seconds of consideration, I asked her what she thought. She gave it two seconds and within a minute, we were in for the Full. So yeah, I guess we caved under each other's peer pressure but we will train hard and hold each other accountable. I like to say that we reached this decision together, just don't tell my kids. ;) 

My Circle of Peeps.

     I am half-heartedly joking when I said that about coming to the decision. We probably discussed it for about 5 minutes. Ha! Seriously, it's much easier to train or take that step out the door if you are being held accountable. So keep posting those runs, medals and inspiring quotes. Ya never know who just might need to see that at that very moment. And for those who don't want to see it?? Well, they can scroll past it and go on about their business. It's as simple as that. 

     So my ultimate question is this. "If your friend told you to go run a marathon, would you?" 

     Again, I will cave on this and answer not yes, but HECK YES! So, THANK YOU to all of my friends (online and off) who keep me striving to be a better runner and a better person. And to those who allow me to post my social media ramblings?? I owe you a HUGE Thank you! You actually "like" or "favorite" my silliness! My circles are full and my life is better because you are in it. :) 

Happy Running, Happy Rambling and Happy Marathon Training! 

     

Disclaimer: My friend Carrie and I really did come to the decision to run the Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas FULL Marathon vs. the Half Marathon within a 5 minute conversation. We are both bloggers for the Rock 'n' Roll Competitor series and will also run several runDisney events together throughout the remainder of 2014 and 2015.  However, running and registering for a marathon is not something that I take lightly. I do train very hard, eat properly and of course stay very hydrated. Please do not attempt to run a marathon without proper training.  The end result may not be a positive one for you.