Commitment
is one of those words we throw around as being important but maybe don’t ponder
too terribly much on a daily basis. While this blog isn’t going to be about the
most important types of commitment—relational—I think I have learned more than
I knew about my own commitment as a runner in the past month-plus.
Commitment
means doing what you said you would do even if you don’t feel like doing it. It
is a setting of your heart and mind to follow through without question. The
idea is that before you enter into something you use your heart and mind and evaluate
what it is and if you want to do it.
With
running, there was no ceremony like a wedding or a vow to be a nun, nothing
quite so dramatic. But after I began, I decided I wanted to accomplish something.
On January 1, I essentially made two commitments: to run a half marathon and to
run 500 miles in the calendar year. Both became the focus of my free time. And
honestly, neither was too hard for the first few months. 500 miles is an average
of 1.36 miles per day. The truth is, I will hit 500 miles before the half year
mark is over, and while I have not entered it in the calendar yet, I will
likely go for 1000 this year. Although I had a cold winter, I had excellent
runs. I learned to run again on asphalt trails surrounded by trees and lakes. I
was utterly spoiled (and so is everyone within 30 minutes of Leawood or Overland
Park, Kansas, by the way). There were days it was hard to go—like when we had
two blizzards in a row and the roads were barely drivable. But overall, outside
of being colder than I have ever been, it was easy. I had great training runs
for my half and did not follow the plan exactly since I was ahead, but I made
sure I did the long runs and had the mileage you basically need each week for a
good half—20 miles. So my unwritten commitment became 20 miles a week.
And
then I got to Texas. Oh, Texas. My beloved home? My promised land? Alas!
Oh,
Texas, no longer my Texas, thou art
HOT. Not just hot, but humid, the kind where you feel like you walked into a sauna.
Even the locals say it’s bad, but for a person who struggles with heat anyway,
and one with breathing issues while running—and one who hates running first
thing in the morning I might add, Texas has challenged everything I think about
running.
But I
won.
In
Texas I have run when the heat index was 100. I have run trail runs and gotten
trapped in weeds so it looked like wire was around my ankles. I have been stuck
in the mud, tripped over rocks, poured more water over me than down my throat.
And gotten sick to the point I had to fight very hard NOT to throw up right there.
I have experienced heat exhaustion (literally, I mean). I have cried after runs
because the FUN isn’t there as much. But then I would have a good run and it
would all come back, or I would look at my splits and see a fast time, or I
would look at my mileage and realize what I came here to write about today:
I made
it.
I have
run 5-6 days a week and met every mileage goal I had. I got a break after the
half in that I rested and only had to do 15. We got a weather break last week
and I did two longer runs in one week which gave me a break this week, but
today I had to finish up an average of the last two weeks to 40. Thanks to my
rotten math skills, I messed up and ended up at 40.1.
I’m
typing this still feeling a bit sick from today sauna run. (I remain baffled by
the Hot Yoga phenomena, by the way). But I did it.
There
is no feeling in the world like knowing you worked your booty off and won. How
easy it would have been to quit. Who would have blamed me if I said I was just
working out at the gym and taking swim class for a couple weeks? I did that—and
I ran too. And you know why, don’t you?
Runners
run.
Running
really is a commitment because it’s a mental sport. What I have learned in my
time in one of the more uncomfortable parts of Texas is that I am committed to
my sport. I care more about fulfilling my goals than I do my discomfort.
Ultimately, that lesson—as with many running lessons—applies to life.
Next
stop: Dallas. Not exactly the pinnacle of comfort either, but somehow going
north helps the psychological part, if not the sweat. And it looks like the 500th mile
will be somewhere very special. Sometimes the rewards of commitment just happen
naturally, and sometimes with sweat. But always, always there are rewards.
No comments:
Post a Comment