Last week I spent three days by myself in Astoria, Oregon. But this isn’t a story about how magical my little solo retreat was and how omg you just have to go have some “me time.”

There’s a pattern to my solo travels: I’ll be really excited to go, and I’ll have a great time on the drive out listening to music or podcasts and enjoying the scenery - moving from city to farmland to rolling hills to coastal mountains to river towns all the way to the salty cool air of the coast.

And then that first day I always end up feeling off. I feel lonely, I question if I should have brought someone with me, I feel unsafe and nervous sleeping alone in an unknown place. I get anxious that I’m not spending my time the “right” way. Am I relaxing enough? Too much? Should I get some work done? Am I planning out my days too much? Not enough? Is it a waste of time to watch 3 episodes of Inventing Anna and go to bed late? Should I set an alarm? It would be a shame to sleep the day away!

By the second day, I’m settling in and enjoying my time alone. The thoughts of doing vacation “the right” way still linger. I allow myself to have ideas for the day without planning out every hour of it. By day three, I can’t believe it’s over and I’m wishing for another day or two.

I realized the transition period I feel the first day is like warming up for my runs. I usually run in the morning, and the night before I’m always looking forward to it. But in the early hours of the morning, I’m often wishing I was sleeping and not doing bridges and squats on my carpet as I look outside at the dark, rainy morning. As I take those first creaky run steps, I may still be questioning my choices - the amount of layers I wore, the music I did or did not pick to play, the route I have in mind. And yet somehow, it all comes together and even if the run doesn’t feel great, I am always happy and grateful I did it.

I follow a set routine of exercises for my running warmups, and this has gotten me thinking - where in my life could I create intentional warmup routines like I have for running? When I travel solo, is there something I could do to help me embrace the warm up period? My body needs to get its blood flowing and for the muscles in my glutes, shoulders, and core to start firing before a run. What do my mind and body need to warm up for time spent alone in new places?

I don’t know what it will be, but for my next solo trip I’m going to test out some kind of warm up activity. Thankfully not all warmups require squats.

- Caitlin

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