I re-started running this past June. It was something I used to do pretty frequently and really enjoyed, but small children made it really tricky for quite a while for me. Part of getting back into it, for me, though, was wanting to make sure I stuck with it. To that end, I started posting post-run, sweaty selfies on my Instagram stories as a sort of public accountability sort of thing.

I don’t do them for every run – many, but not all. And it really has become kind of a thing. There are friends who have reached out either congratulating or asking about meeting up for a run. There have been folks I don’t even know offering notes of encouragement. And many – really, quite a lot – of my photography clients bring up my running.

I had to move inside (winter in Minnesota can be pretty treacherous and I don’t want to have to stop) for the winter. Our local YMCA has a track and a whole raft of treadmills that I’ve made quite a bit of use of, and I even managed to start doing a bit of lap swimming. But now, the weather’s heading back into happy territories – the ice is leaving the sidewalks and the sun is rising earlier and earlier.

I think I’ll probably keep at all these selfies. They feel a bit self-indulgent often, but in the end, it’s just a selfie, isn’t it?

All the best,
Alison