It’s funny how workouts have a way of mimicking life. We have good days and bad days; likewise, we have good workouts and bad workouts. As I was on my way to the pool this morning, I got a text from my best friend, Britta. She has finally entered the world of texting, it’s still rare, but it does happen on occasion. You may recall a post I did about a month ago called Why I Run, which was a response to Britta asking that very question. She was, at that point, considering signing up for the Chicago Marathon. Well, here’s the update. Despite Active.com’s epic fail the day registration opened and then later crashed, Britta managed by some miracle to clinch a place on that first day. Last week, I was one of 36,000 runners who entered the lottery for the remaining 15,000 or so spots available. I had slightly less than a 50/50 shot, but it was out of my hands. This morning, I woke up to find the email that read, “Congratulations! You have been selected to register for the 2013 Bank of America Chicago Marathon”. Awesome. I have the opportunity to run 26.2 miles with Britta in the city that cemented our friendship for life. It just really doesn’t get any better than that.
So, anyway, back to the text Britta sent me this morning. Here’s our conversation:
B: Just ran seven miles and felt like crap every step of the way. I need more sleep…
B again: But that’s the first time I’ve felt yucky so that’s something.
RRG: It happens. We all have a bad run once in a while.
B: Until two weeks ago, I haven’t run seven miles since college. Again, I will take the positive little steps, literally.
RRG: Exactly! And on that note, I’m getting in the pool. J
If you recall, Britta is the swimmer. So it’s funny how we’ve taken up each other’s sport. But the theme of this conversation is so true. Some days, I go run and I feel fantastic. Other days, I run and it’s fine, nothing special. And still other days, I run and it’s like I would rather be rolling around in a pile of nails and shards of broken glass on a bed of hot coals. Some days, we just don’t have it. That’s not just running, that’s life. No matter the amount of coffee or Midol or whatever I think I need, sometimes I just feel like I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and I spend the whole day in a funk. Those are the days, or the workouts, that you just have to power through so you can get to the end and say “I made it. And that’s good enough”.
Oddly, I jumped into the pool today and had the exact same experience. After a brief warm-up, Andy asked me, “How’d that feel?” I responded simply, “Stiff”. I wasn’t feeling comfortable in the water. I was tired. My shoulder hurt. Blah, blah, blah. So, what do you do when you’re just not feeling it? Well, you suck it up and you keep going. I did some drills, that got me loosened up and I felt a little better. Then Andy said, “Ok, it’s time to try swimming 500 meters without stopping, no breaks at the wall”. Oy vey! Unlike Britta not running 7 miles since college (I won’t date us here and say just how many years that’s been), I have never swam 500 m without stopping, not ever in my life. I’ve stayed afloat for that long, but never actually swam freestyle all the way. It was go time!
If you had told me just 2 months ago, that I would swim 500 meters in approximately 12 minutes and feel like I could keep on going, I would have told you that you were batshit crazy! (Sorry, I usually try to keep things G-rated…or PG at the most, but I needed to make a point) Somewhere over the past 8 weeks, Lindsey learned how to SWIM. But guess what? If I would have bailed because of all the excuses I was conjuring up in my head, I wouldn’t have even known I could do that. I needed to just get out of my head and stop over-thinking. I’ve always had a tendency to over-think and over-analyze ev-er-y-thing, from workouts to life in general: Why does my shoulder hurt? What if he doesn’t ever call? Why didn’t so-and-so respond to that email? What will all those people think of me if I do my own thing instead of going along with the majority? (Someone please tell me I’m not the only one who does this) But let’s think about this, if there’s nothing we can do about it, why worry about it?!
Something Andy said to me in the pool today as I was struggling along, was, “Strive for consistency, expect anything BUT.” That’s so true. Consistency and pace are key! Especially when we’re talking about going the distance. But we have to be prepared to roll with the punches and power through when we’re having a bad workout. Fighting through when we’re just not feeling it is what makes us stronger. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if life was always consistent, too? Well, no, actually. There is something to be said for breaking the status quo. Sure it would be great if we could avoid the hurts and the heartaches (or the shoulder aches), but it’s the pain that makes us grow. And if we didn’t feel the yucky stuff, we wouldn’t appreciate the good stuff so much. The lows might be lower, but that makes the highs higher too.
I’ve already admitted to my reality TV addiction. Last night I was watching The Biggest Loser (Yes, I watched The Bachelor finale, too) and Jillian said so many things that struck a major chord with me. The best one was this, “Here’s the thing-you try and you fail, you try and you fail, but you know why you get up every day and try again? For THIS moment. This moment right here. This is what you fight for. And it doesn’t happen often, but when it does happen, it’s Magic. And it’s worth it.” Amen, Sister!
Something else Jillian said was, “It’s about a girl that lives the life SHE wants, who follows HER dreams and who does not hang her state of being on the outside world”.
We don’t get the magic moments every day, we may even go years without one. It’s taken a lot of hard work for me to become that girl who doesn’t hang her state of being on what anyone in this world sees. But I am living the life I want and I am following MY dreams. It’s Magic. And it IS worth it!
RRG and B…this is approximately what we looked like the last time B ran 7 miles. I tried to use effects to enhance the photo, not sure it really helped.