Fit Fun Mom

At this point — a week into November and NaNoWriMo — I suspect some readers of my fitness-related ramblings now shout at the computer: “Stop writing about writing! Stick to your theme! You’re not allowed to write about anything other than subjects covered in your tagline: Fitness, Fun, Family, Food. Notice the absence of another F: Fiction!” (I kid. Generally I find readers to be exceptionally kind and generous people, as most runners and triathletes happen to be.) However, at the end of the day yesterday, I found myself shouting, “Enough!” I crashed from the high of hitting 10,000 words in my novel-in-progress, and I burned out big time. I didn’t want to write any more of the novel, write yet another blog post with strained analogies between writing marathons and running marathons, read about writing (I’m currently reading Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman’s Guide to Igniting the Writer Within and I recommend it), or even think about the plot of the novel.

So what did I do? I picked up Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness by elite athlete and vegan, Scott Jurek. He talked about how he started to get more and more involved in long distance running as a way to train for competitive cross-country skiing. His friend Dusty took him out for long runs on animal paths that made great running trails. Just as I thought what a nice diversion this book was from all things writing-related, on page 50 Jurek described the experience of trail running with his friend:

I know a novelist who says he was never happier than when he was working on his first book, which turned out to be so bad that he never showed the manuscript to anyone. He said his joy came from the way time stopped and from all he learned about himself and his craft during those sessions. Running with Dusty that spring — not racing, running — I understood what the writer had been talking about.

Alright, Universe! I get the message! I will write! And furthermore, I will embrace the analogies between writing and running, just like ultrarunner Scott Jurek did!