I'm hesitant to add yet another running related entry to my blog. But I feel this is such a huge part of my life and it's where I am at so here you have it!
This morning was my final 20 miler on my training schedule until the Eugene Marathon. The past week or so I haven't been feeling all that awesome; my left foot has been kind of plagued with a recurring issue. During the training of the past few marathons, my left foot/ankle gets tired and sore and just plain hurts! Fortunately this time, the ankle hasn't visibly reacted, ie - gotten black and blue or swollen. I have managed to make it through all of my workouts this week but with a twenty miler staring me in the face I was a bit nervous. However, I go until I fail and this was not going to be an exception to the rule.
It took the first ten miles to get 'warmed' up and during this time there was a lot of negative self talk going on in my mind. I preach a lot against this. I am constantly telling people that no matter what happens that they need to stay positive. I firmly believe it but for some reason this morning, I struggled with my own advice. Very lucky for me, I was amongst three fantastic other runners and friends so there was plenty of distraction and my legs kept moving, again, LUCKY!
The second half of the run started much better than the first half, physically. My mind was still not excited about having another ten to go but I did my best to ignore it. Before I knew it we were beyond 15 miles and well into the final five. Finally we were back to my car and my GPS watch told me I made it!
I wish I could share with you that I had a moment this morning where I had a revelation and made a decision to be positive and push forward. Along with some glorious finish where I picked up the pace and finished strong. But I don't. In fact, all that I can tell you is that it hurt, I was sore and I wanted to be done! This morning, I simply just kept moving.
Sometimes that's all we can really do is just put one foot in front of the other and keep moving. Running is a funny thing, it carries a lot of parallels to life itself. Life is hard. Sometimes it comes easy but many times, it does not. There are obstacles, aches and pains but nonetheless, it brings a lot of benefits and gifts abundantly. Some days we blow through the finish line and other days, we crawl across it. We always manage to get there.
As we all face a new week, let's start by putting one foot in front of the other and see where it takes us.
Be bold - Live Life
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