One Saturday morning not too long ago, I hit the wall. The figurative wall, not the literal one...although you shouldn't put that past me on any given day. It was a beautiful morning. It was sunny and warm with a light Boston breeze with the smell of flowers that just came alive after a long winter, and if you were really attuned to your senses, you could smell the dirt on a newly roughed-up little league baseball field.
It was one of those mornings where you don't really have to think hard to count your blessings. The only not-so-beautiful thing about that morning was my run. I was to go out for a 10-miler, not necessarily a novelty when you've knocked down a half-dozen half-marathons. And certainly not-so-special when you've been training for months.
Up until this point, my training had been smooth. I was getting out for a run (okay, jog) a few times per week and cross-referencing with spinning, yoga, and weight training, and even when my doctor told me a portion of my hip was torn, I didn't let it shake my confidence.
Until that damn day.
Every runner comes to a point where they have to stop and ask themselves if this is something they should really put themselves through. If the pain and the stomping and the blisters and the back aches are all really worth it. After over a decade of running, had I finally come to this point?
And I didn't know the answer. Thankfully, I had ten long miles to come up with it.
I realized that bad running days are like bad work days. Everyone has them, and you just have to persevere until you're done. Having a tough run doesn't mean you're an awful runner, it just means your body and mind weren't in sync with each other that particular day. One was on vacation while the other was trying to compensate. And if you're like me, you're likely not going to win any Olympic medals for your talents, so it's ok to not perform like Prefontaine on every single run.
None of this means you're a terrible person, or that you should just pack it in and never set foot in a pair of running shoes again. It just means you need to look that bad run in the eye, accept that not every stride will be perfect, do what you need to do to be better the next time, and keep running.
When you hit a wall in life, you don't stop living. When you hit a wall in running, you don't stop running. You just push through and keep going. And most of the time, you'll come out stronger...
Keep Climbing,
ELD
