Runner's World

One of the things I love most about running is how metaphorical it can be.  When I ran my half-marathon a couple of years ago, for instance, it was totally symbolic to me of my ability to do hard things.  I blogged about it then, but the thing that has stuck with me the most since that time is how doing that specific hard thing was representative of all the other hard things I was capable of doing in my life.  That whole experience training for and running in the race produced this amazing synthesis of body, mind, and spirit.

As I've been running more and more lately, the actual physical work of it might not always be fun -- and there are still many times when I'm really tired and would much rather stay home and do nothing -- but I can't help but feel that same synthesis brewing.  There are so many life lessons to be learned in the simple act of running.

There's this one miniscule little hill that I have to go up when I'm running one of my neighborhood loops and every single time I go up it, I'm reminded of the same thing.  The best way for me to get up that hill is if I slow down and take smaller steps.  How symbolic is that??  When life gets hard, slowing down and taking baby steps will almost always get us to where we need to be.  It's not always necessary to make things harder for ourselves when the circumstances are already hard enough.

One more big thing I've learned from running, is that you never know what you're capable of until you try.  Just this morning, I was totally looking for an excuse not to run.  It was hot outside, I was getting started later in the morning than I wanted to, I just ran yesterday, I was tired -- you name it, and it had probably run through my mind as a reason not to go.  But then, I saw a friend post a picture after running a personal best this morning and decided I wanted to rise to the challenge and see what MY personal best could be.  And you know what?  I smashed it.  Hit it out of the park.  Completely and totally killed it out there on the road with the very fastest mile I've ever run in my life. 

Bam! What???

A sub-9-minute-mile.  AND, even though, I had to stop and walk to catch my breath for a few minutes after that frantic, racing pace, I still went on to finish with my fastest recorded 5K time -- 30:41.  {All you hardcore race runners out there, don't laugh at me!}  So there you go.  Another life lesson learned.  Happy running!

{And just for comparison's sake, I usually run close to a 10 minute mile with longer runs averaging about 10 1/2 minutes per mile.  So, really -- I was completely and totally shocked when I saw my time!}