{"id":192,"date":"2013-03-13T02:53:53","date_gmt":"2013-03-13T02:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=192"},"modified":"2013-03-13T02:55:26","modified_gmt":"2013-03-13T02:55:26","slug":"its-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=192","title":{"rendered":"It’s Magic"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s funny how workouts have a way of mimicking life.\u00a0 We have good days and bad days; likewise, we have good workouts and bad workouts.\u00a0 As I was on my way to the pool this morning, I got a text from my best friend, Britta.\u00a0 She has finally entered the world of texting, it\u2019s still rare, but it does happen on occasion.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 She was, at that point, considering signing up for the Chicago Marathon.\u00a0 Well, here\u2019s the update.\u00a0 Despite Active.com\u2019s epic fail the day registration opened and then later crashed, Britta managed by some miracle to clinch a place on that first day.\u00a0 Last week, I was one of 36,000 runners who entered the lottery for the remaining 15,000 or so spots available.\u00a0 I had slightly less than a 50\/50 shot, but it was out of my hands.\u00a0 This morning, I woke up to find the email that read, \u201cCongratulations!\u00a0 You have been selected to register for the 2013 Bank of America Chicago Marathon\u201d. Awesome.\u00a0 I have the opportunity to run 26.2 miles with Britta in the city that cemented our friendship for life. \u00a0It just really doesn\u2019t get any better than that.<\/p>\n

So, anyway, back to the text Britta sent me this morning.\u00a0 Here\u2019s our conversation:<\/p>\n

B: Just ran seven miles and felt like crap every step of the way.\u00a0 I need more sleep\u2026<\/p>\n

B again: But that\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve felt yucky so that\u2019s something.<\/p>\n

RRG: It happens.\u00a0 We all have a bad run once in a while.<\/p>\n

B: Until two weeks ago, I haven\u2019t run seven miles since college.\u00a0 Again, I will take the positive little steps, literally.<\/p>\n

RRG: Exactly! And on that note, I\u2019m getting in the pool.\u00a0 J<\/p>\n

If you recall, Britta is the swimmer.\u00a0 So it\u2019s funny how we\u2019ve taken up each other\u2019s sport.\u00a0 But the theme of this conversation is so true.\u00a0 Some days, I go run and I feel fantastic.\u00a0 Other days, I run and it\u2019s fine, nothing special.\u00a0 And still other days, I run and it\u2019s like I would rather be rolling around in a pile of nails and shards of broken glass on a bed of hot coals.\u00a0 Some days, we just don\u2019t have it.\u00a0 That\u2019s not just running, that\u2019s life.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Those are the days, or the workouts, that you just have to power through so you can get to the end and say \u201cI made it. And that\u2019s good enough\u201d.<\/p>\n

Oddly, I jumped into the pool today and had the exact same experience.\u00a0 After a brief warm-up, Andy asked me, \u201cHow\u2019d that feel?\u201d\u00a0 I responded simply, \u201cStiff\u201d.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t feeling comfortable in the water.\u00a0 I was tired.\u00a0 My shoulder hurt.\u00a0 Blah, blah, blah.\u00a0 So, what do you do when you\u2019re just not feeling it?\u00a0 Well, you suck it up and you keep going.\u00a0 I did some drills, that got me loosened up and I felt a little better.\u00a0 Then Andy said, \u201cOk, it\u2019s time to try swimming 500 meters without stopping, no breaks at the wall\u201d.\u00a0 Oy vey!\u00a0 Unlike Britta not running 7 miles since college (I won\u2019t date us here and say just how many years that\u2019s been), I have never swam 500 m \u00a0without stopping, not ever in my life.\u00a0 I\u2019ve stayed afloat for that long, but never actually swam freestyle all the way.\u00a0 It was go time!<\/p>\n

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!\u00a0 (Sorry, I usually try to keep things G-rated\u2026or PG at the most, but I needed to make a point)\u00a0 Somewhere over the past 8 weeks, Lindsey learned how to SWIM.\u00a0 But guess what?\u00a0 If I would have bailed because of all the excuses I was conjuring up in my head, I wouldn\u2019t have even known I could do that. \u00a0I needed to just get out of my head and stop over-thinking.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always had a tendency to over-think and over-analyze ev-er-y-thing, from workouts to life in general: \u00a0Why does my shoulder hurt? What if he doesn\u2019t ever call?\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t 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\u2019m not the only one who does this) But let\u2019s think about this, if there\u2019s nothing we can do about it, why worry about it?!<\/p>\n

Something Andy said to me in the pool today as I was struggling along, was, \u201cStrive for consistency, expect anything BUT.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s so true. \u00a0Consistency and pace are key! \u00a0Especially when we\u2019re talking about going the distance. But we have to be prepared to roll with the punches and power through when we\u2019re having a bad workout.\u00a0 Fighting through when we\u2019re just not feeling it is what makes us stronger. \u00a0Wouldn\u2019t it be fantastic if life was always consistent, too?\u00a0 Well, no, actually.\u00a0 There is something to be said for breaking the status quo.\u00a0 Sure it would be great if we could avoid the hurts and the heartaches (or the shoulder aches), but it\u2019s the pain that makes us grow.\u00a0 And if we didn\u2019t feel the yucky stuff, we wouldn\u2019t appreciate the good stuff so much.\u00a0 The lows might be lower, but that makes the highs higher too.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve already admitted to my reality TV addiction.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The best one was this, \u201cHere\u2019s the thing-you try and you fail, you try and you fail, but you know why you get up every day and try again?\u00a0 For THIS moment.\u00a0 This moment right here.\u00a0 This is what you fight for.\u00a0 And it doesn\u2019t happen often, but when it does happen, it\u2019s Magic.\u00a0 And it\u2019s worth it.\u201d\u00a0 Amen, Sister!<\/p>\n

Something else Jillian said was, \u201cIt\u2019s 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\u201d.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t get the magic moments every day, we may even go years without one. It\u2019s taken a lot of hard work for me to become that girl who doesn\u2019t hang her state of being on what anyone in this world sees.\u00a0 But I am living the life I want and I am following MY dreams.\u00a0 It\u2019s Magic.\u00a0 And it IS worth it!<\/p>\n

\"RRG<\/a>

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.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s funny how workouts have a way of mimicking life.\u00a0 We have good days and bad days; likewise, we have good workouts and bad workouts.\u00a0 As I was on my way to the pool this morning, I got a text from my best friend, Britta.\u00a0 She has finally entered the world of texting, it\u2019s still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,9,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-conquering-fears","category-lessonsfromrunning","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-36","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=192"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":196,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions\/196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}