Those pre-race jitters are the worst you have ever had. You
worry. Did I train correctly? Am I hydrated? Was my preparation good? Why am I
doing this? But yet, you are more excited than you have ever been. Then that
gun goes off and with roar your engines kick in. No more time to prepare… you
are thrown head first into a mud, hill, and victory filled adventure. You are
off and flying. That first stretch to that first red flag is exciting,
exhilarating, and filled with excitement. Then you turn left… after that it’s a
mystery, you are running in to a world unknown. There will surely be roots to
trip you up; will it be in just a stumble or a full-face plant? You are going
strong. Everything is new. The feeling that you are running and will never stop
pulses through your body. You see things from a new perspective; everything in
beautiful, but then it sneaks up from out of nowhere… a wall. You hit it, hard.
Now you wonder if you will ever be able to break threw it, to finish the race
strong. But you run on, you have no other choice, quitting is not an option.
Run through injury and pain and they don’t make you drop out but more
determined to make this the best race ever. You round the corner and the sight
of those girls streaming in front of you and the sound of spikes behind you
urge you on. You are again off and running. Feeling wonderful, the thought
flits across your mind, “how does it go from wonderful to bad to wonderful in
such a short amount of time?!?” Then you remind your self that it has ups and
downs, but the ups so out weigh the downs that it is ALWAYS worth it. You pass
a sign a road marker… mile one, it reads. The middle of the race, you settle in
for the long haul. Content and happy but with a flitting feeling of worry and
exhaustion, what will come next… a root, a hill, a surge of energy or just flat
coasting. Into to he darkness you charge… ready for next adventure.
Livin' life on the loose.
So, no big surpise, but I really appreciate, and can relate to your analogy! I have been impressed by your ability to come up flying after those inevitable root snags. Keep the pace gal!!! Your splits are lookin real good and you have a great training base.
ReplyDeleteYou keep charging, my dear. I too love your analogy. An insight I came to (in a very concrete way) when hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, that seems appropriate to your post, was to never make a decision when going uphill. Because soon you will get to the top and your perspective magically changes....
ReplyDeleteLove you
Hey Ellie. Another great post. I keep up with running and have those days when I'm not sure whether or not I want to go out. Then when I'm out there I realize that the best time to decide is not on the "before" side of running, but in the running itself. Sometimes i think that walking gives me outside scenery and running gives me inside scenery. I see things about myself I could never see any other way when I run. Keep up the good race! Keep sharing all the awesome scenery! love, Aunt Penny
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