Saturday, September 10, 2011

Committed

A wonderful lady recently did a post on how she decided to commit herself to 26.2.  Today seemed like a good day, an hour before my long run to talk about my commitment to the marathon as well.

Once upon a time, I ran for weight loss.  Sure racing was nice.  But it was just an add on.  To me the purpose was to keep the pounds at bay.  I am not saying that is the wrong thing to do, but it was not a right fit for me at the time. However, somewhere down the line, something clicked and I went from running for weight loss to running to train but from an "exercise conscious person" to an athlete.  And my perspective on life began to change.  Instead of saying I needed to get my run in in order not to gain weight, it became I needed to get my run in, in order to be the best I can be on race day.  As opposed to worrying about not eating too much before, during, and after runs to keep "unneeded" calories at bay, it became how can I best fuel myself to optimize my performance.  And with this transformation something special, something real happened, I began to enjoy my running.  I began to see it as a truly, amazing healthy wonderful goal.  I became a runner (now I am not saying again that if you run to lose weight you are not a runner, this is just how it was for me).

Today, my mind set is different, my training plans have changed, and how I look at the world is brighter.  I am more excited, more energetic, and more committed than ever to 26.2!  I am an athlete and I am on a mission.  I have a race and on race day I want to go out there and do my best.  I have been waiting for my time to tackle 26.2 for over 3 years now and I have finally entered the mindset where it is possible.  It is my goal and it is my dream and I WILL accomplish it.

While many of you runners (for race goals or weight loss) may relate to this, other non-runners can not.  As this girl noted very profoundly, you don't get why I say no to the extra glass of wine or refuse to go out on a Friday night or why I willingly step into an ice bath.  And you surely cannot understand why I am up at 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning when I am sick and with a stuffy nose.  But here I am today trying to battle a cold but determined to get in my training run.  Yes, the rest of the day might be shot and yes I might be exhausted and all stuffed up (wonderful I know) but I am also an athlete on a mission.  A mission to complete 26.2 and that is pretty high up there on those list of priorities.  So while I don't necessarily endorse running and being sick at the same time is the best thing ever, I am weighing my options and choosing to go for it and hope for the best.  Because I am committed to 26.2!!!



Eekkk time to get ready!! Hope everyone has a wonderful run! How do you commit to 26.2 or your race of choice?

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