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Yesterday my workout consisted of taking it easy.  I’m still playing it safe when it comes to my leg and when I have a longer or harder workout day (Thursday), I either do something easy or nothing at all on the day following.

It’s amazing how my definition of a “hard workout” day has changed. Everything is relative.

I opted to take Zoe on a walk again.

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The wind was out of control here today.

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You really can’t tell it from the picture but it was quite a blustery day! I ended up getting a total of about 45 minutes in before heading indoors to get away from the wind and to get warm.

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On the way to the Marine Corps Marathon Wes and I were getting pretty stir crazy in the car and decided we would take the famous Jung, Briggs, Myers personality test.

I was driving so Wes read the questions off to me and then we would answer them.

We obviously knew that we were very different, but hadn’t take the test in a long time.

The final verdict:

I was a ISFJ and Wes came back as a INTJ.

Here is a closer look at the common descriptions of the two:

ISFJ

ISFJ

We were cracking up as we were reading mine because a lot of it was spot on.

I don’t agree with it all, but it seems pretty accurate I would say.  We found one description that described an ISFJ as “The Nurturer.”

I am an overall quiet person, I do enjoy having close friends but I would prefer a few over a lot.  I am very very emotionally driven. This has it is advantages and disadvantages but I make a lost of decisions based on emotions and I have to be careful with that.  I place very high value on family and my relationships, and I of course love to plan things way too much.  I often put others feelings before my own and often am way to hard on myself.

INTJ

INTJ

Wes on the other hand was the exact opposite.

After we researched it he was considered “The Scientist” which I found very fitting since he is in medical school.

Wes is a very reserved guy. He keeps to himself but he is always thinking of the future. In everything he does he has a plan and he thinks of every possible outcome before he makes a decision. He has a harder time with affection than I do, but I wouldn’t call him by any means “not physically affectionate” as this describes.  One of the descriptions we read was that INTJ’s can come off “cold” even though they are not meaning to that is just how they are.

 

After looking at this I realized a couple of things:

1. Knowing some of this can help us have a better relationship. I know how Wes is and even though there are some things I’d love to change about him (as he would about me) it is just who we are to an extent.

They key though is that just because you have a certain personality doesn’t mean you can’t compromise to work with someone else. In a lot of ways having opposite personalities helps us because in a lot of the places that I am weak Wes is very strong and able to pick up the slack, and vise versa.  However, we both have to realize that there has to be compromise to make any relationship work and we should just use “well that’s just how I am” as an excuse.

2. I wanted to know how our personalities could play into who we are as runners. How do these personality traits shape how we enjoy training. 

Me:

Follows the Rules – While this does apply to me in real life, I think it helps me understand why I like training plans so much.  I love having a set workout for the day, however, this also is bad for me when it causes me to not listen to my body because I am so focused on getting that days workout in.

Emotionally Driven – Running has a lot of emotion with it. I am passionate about my goals and I want to achieve them for me, but when I don’t or I fall short I can be extremely hard on myself. I have always had to work on “cutting myself a break.”

 

Wes:

Perfectionist – In some ways I do think Wes can be a perfectionist and in other ways I don’t see it, but I do know when it comes to running he is. He has a goal and he focuses on it and he doesn’t let go. He wants to run a sub-2:30 and 2 days after his marathon he was already planning out how he was going to get faster.

Prefers Being Alone – Again, in some ways I see this. When it comes to running some of the joy that it bring is the fact that he can be in his own world, in his own head, and he can really relax. He always is open to having me or one of his friends run with him, but at the end of the day running is a way for Wes to relax and be by himself.

 

This is a bit of a different post I know, but I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I don’t believe that YOUR personality type DEFINES who you are. Yes, it can tell you how you tend to be but I think improvements and modifications can be made. Just like in our relationship where there has to be compromise, when it comes to running knowing these things shows me where my shortfalls can be and the things I can change to help me become a better runner.

Have you ever taken a personality test? What did you end up being?

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