Motor
I know, I know its been so long.
Well, maybe I’ve been busy all winter taking Human Anatomy and scoring a final grade of 90%. Maybe its been one of the worst winters on record here and I have been hibernating, or maybe I’m getting ready to launch a new blog (you’ll see!) or maybe just MAYbe I’ve been training all winter (inside I might add) for a 25k race that I really have no business doing.
Yep, that’s it.
My friends have started a movement called ‘Motor’ and its telling stories of people who go against mediocrity, who get the job done, who press on toward a goal even when the odds are stacked against them.
This resonates with me.
This has been one of the most challenging seasons of my life in the sense that I took on a lot. I am in school now, and that is no small feat for me AND committing to this run has proven to be really, really hard.
I mean really…
really…
hard.
I knew it would be hard physically – I mean I don’t even want to drive 15.5 miles let alone run it! When you set out to take something like this on, you really have no idea how your body will do – will it adapt? Will you get hurt? To train for this, you have to run a lot, fuel your body differently and THINK differently.
I did not realize how this mental part would “hit” me. Right after I did my first 10 mile training run, I felt on top of the world that I actually did it, but I knew I had many long runs ahead of me. I did another 10 mile run after two grueling weeks of barely being able to move past 7 0r 8. After that last 10 mile run and subsequent short runs, I just hated it. I hated running, I questioned why I would ever think I could do this, and I was ready to quit. I had no energy and was being told by multiple people that I had probably over-trained and my body was fatigued. Just last week, I had talked myself into switching and downgrading to the 10k race. I mean, there would be no shame in that, it would still be a great accomplishment and great to be a part of the fifth third run in that way.
But I am stubborn.
I have worked so hard.
And this is where the term ‘Motor’ really comes in. When you have nothing left, you dig just a little deeper and you go for it.
I did not, however, dig this out of myself on my own. I have amazing friends who are rooting for me, who are encouraging me and helping me. My friend Amy did almost all of my long runs with me even though she isn’t even doing the race. My friend Lisa got advice for me from a cousin of hers who runs marathons, and my sister who is injured herself and still going to go for it tomorrow has been giving me pep talks all week!
So, there is no backing out now in my mind. I am in this thing and I am going to finish.
Don’t get me wrong, I realize it is going to be the hardest thing I have ever done physically and mentally. But just as the crowds tomorrow will be giving me a boost of adrenaline and support that I will need, I will be thinking of the “crowds” of friends and family that have been giving me a boost all along and telling me I CAN do this.
So my strategy for tomorrow is to run slow, take in my surroundings, enjoy all the new songs on my ipod, and take my friend Heather’s advice and get five out of the way and countdown from 10….
and, I will motor.
How do YOU Motor? Tell your story!
