By this Friday I will have run 146 miles during the month of October [1]. This experience has taught me something very important about myself.
I mean other than the fact that I’m absolutely insane
As a child I was one of those kids who was always saying “I can’t.” This began with refusing to play sports, but soon anything that could possibly end in embarassment was avoided.
Thankfully the list of things I couldn’t do has gotten smaller since then. However running a marathon was near the top of it since my last attempt didn’t end well [2].
After going through a humbling experience we have a few choices:
- Use it as a learning experience and try again
- Become a stronger person because of it
- Never try again and destroy any photographic evidence of it ever happening
- Can you guess which one I chose?
I approached the training program in July with lots of skepticism (thinking it would end just like last time) but around mile 100 something occurred to me…my body can do a lot more than I think
Every Saturday morning we have a weekly long-run in preparation for the marathon…over the last four weeks this has included
- Eighteen miles
- Fourtee Miles (seven of which were uphill)
- Twenty Miles
- And Twenty-Two miles
Understandably we took it slow and easy during last Saturdays run [3] but as the finish of our last really long run came up members of my group started running faster.
As they pulled away my legs said to me “seriously dude just let them go” but a little voice in my head responded “hey you have enough to keep up.”
So I sprinted in mile twenty-one
After running more than 100 miles that month
And caught up with them.
So don’t listen to that voice that says you should quit
Keep pushing
Keep working
Keep trying
You will be amazed at the results
svgmissionary.com 