Life is an open book. It is easy to forget that we can be anything we choose with effort.
The effort is something that a lot of the population is incapable of doing. I saw a post yesterday and it got me to thinking.
The post was about running and preparing for your first ultra-marathon.
It said to simply start with long walks over an hour for a month. Then build in small sections of running into these long walks for the next couple of months, As the months pass the walking gradually becomes the running. 8 – 10 months in suddenly you discover you can run, jog and walk 50km plus. This post is correct. It works.
The thought this triggered in me was that most people can sit and decide they choose to run ultras. It does not have to be an ultra. It can be anything. . . Weight loss, learning to ballroom dance, simply anything. . . We are all capable of making a decision that we shall set out to achieve something.
What I have seen so so much is the ability to start is often there. The ability to continue month in and month out, through the dark mornings, dark nights, the cold, the summer heat, injury, the acute soreness and the mental drain that going long brings is the hard part.
Almost all fall by the wayside. The staying power., The ability to hang in there and make your outcome happen through thick and thin is the missing link for so many.
I looked inward at what kept me going and keeps me going now on my journey back to Uber Fit.
For me it is simple: I have to know my reason WHY?
If the reason why is enough I simply remind myself of this. Sometimes I have numerous reasons why I choose to set a target at something and run with it. Other times it has simply been because I want to do it. My brain has said, just make it happen.
For me, it becomes a driving force. The outcome feeds other areas of my life positively. I become a better person as I enjoy the journey to my outcome.
I have always preferred the journey to the outcome over actually the outcome. On the journey, I live the end all the time. I train for the end goal. I have already done it in my head and body a thousand times. Often when I achieve the outcome or finish the race, it is just nothing special. It is just completed.
I have DNF’d on various ultras over the years. The disappointment is real. I look back and can see what I learned from the lessons. I was under-trained, I did not eat properly. I started with an injury, I simply bit off more than I could chew. The journey though to each finished and DNFd race is the part I love.
This is the part so many people struggle with. Consistency. Persistency. Hanging in there and adapting to what is happening good and bad now.
Know your why, review the why and make sure it is big enough to get you out of bed at 0430hrs if you need to run early.
The blank book!