During every long run, and sometimes the not so long runs, there is a point or points where The Doubts creep in. I feel tired or uncomfortable. I have a side stitch or my stomach feels weird or something we did at Insanity the day before made my ass hurt like whoa. The Doubts try to convince me that I can't do it. I used to listen to them and get discouraged. But now I know better. I know that the key to distance running, and probably to life, is that it gets better. When it feels bad, you just have to keep going until it feels good again. You don't have to feel bad about feeling bad. It happens. It is not technically "bad," it is just another experience. And the more experiences you have, the more you learn, grow, expand.
I don't know why some people think things were better in the past. Things are better in the present. And the choices you make in the present can make things even better in the future. You can't go back (unless you have a time machine, in which case, let's get up to some Back To The Future style shenanigans), but you can always go forward. You can't change what has already happened but you can change what you do now, right this very moment, and in all the subsequent moments. I think about this when I go through one of those rough spots during a run or on a bad day. It is an experience, it is temporary. It's what I do with it that matters. I always have a choice. I can always choose awesomeness.
Lyric of the moment: "I always could count on futures. That things would look up, and they look up..." ~Jimmy Eat World "Futures"
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