Doing It Different

Possibly you remember last month, when I ran my first ever half marathon with, uh, "limited" training and had some takeaways. 

Don't worry! This is not going to be a fitness blog, because that seems like a super boring thing to write. 

That said. Since said race, I actually have been training (better late than never, amiright), so it was less of a terrible idea when Nadia was like "let's do a 10k!" 

i love medals. also stella needs to up her selfie game.

I hope most of you are familiar with blogger Nadia--she's a badass distance-running, animal-welfare-working, TED-talking, all-around-awesome person with her own super cool baby horse that is basically Zoe's super-talented little sister. 

Anyways. 

I love how connected all this is--last time I ran, I talked about emotional awareness for myself as a rider and how my (lack of) training affected me. And see, this time, I trained. It was not enough, but it was more than before. 

def wore blerch shirt

When I knew what to expect and I knew that I was ready to take it on, the whole race was so much smoother. 

And I know that sounds like a super dumb thing to say, because like... obviously? 

It's the same philosophy I used with Zoe--go slow. Do tiny increments. Set her up for success. Never, ever surprise her. Just simple, methodical horsemanship.

one toodle at a time

 The difference the preparation makes is monumental.

I can't overstate that.

Anyways.

Because a 10k is such a friendly distance (SO SHORT) and because I (omg) actually trained, I finished and only felt about a quarter like death so I was like OMG LETS GO PLAY WITH ZOE WHAT A GOOD IDEA.

And Nadia is like "but I have no riding clothes"
And I am like "soooooo?"

post race stretches!

Because one of the absolutely coolest things about Zoe is I can literally show up and put a bridle on her and we're off on a toodle.

and that's how we did a whole weekend in like half of one day

Because she knows I'll never ask more than she can give. 

And she knows that because I set her up to succeed every single day. 

d'awww

I have bigger goals for myself than just finishing a given run and I have bigger goals for Zoe than just "getting around" a show.

Our path to get there is slow.

Methodical.

And so, so deliberate.