How about starting a business?
Heck yea!
This comes up because once again I’m putting my body through the intensity of training for a marathon. As my knees and feet protest these efforts, I keep having to remind myself why I’m doing this. Oh yea, to raise money and awareness to support women’s cardiac care (still the number 1 killer of women – do you think stress has anything to do with it?).
Part of the reason I felt I could do it again (this is my second marathon – the first raising money for AIDS care and awareness) is because I was feeling like a rockstar during my 7 mile long runs.
Well, maybe I got ahead of myself. My 11 mile run was miserable. My feet hurt by mile 5, my right knee was a little bit uncomfortable and my legs were tired. What the heck was I thinking??
I made it through 12 miles on Sunday.
And it felt amazing! I even felt like I could have gone further!
Why this shift? Why does anything become more bearable? MINDSET!
I was determined and persistent. Not completing the run and the mileage was not an option.
Of course I couldn’t skip from a strong 7 mile run to a strong 26.2 mile run, but sometimes our high-achieving minds think that’s possible. This is great for an initial inspiration, but it can also lead to quick discouragement when reality shows us otherwise.
Yet, I know I will get to the 26.2 mileage point when the time comes to perform in September.
One foot in front of the other. Because I laid the foundation for my success in my weekly training. Because that is the only option; I will persist until I reach my goal.
When I realized these truths, I set myself up to have a great 12 mile run.
So, what is the moral of the story? First, you must set a goal and believe that you will achieve the goal. Then, you must put in place a training program or a plan to get you to that goal.
With this plan, you must remind yourself of two things:
- It’s simply one foot in front of the other. As busy, ambitious women doing it all, we can easily get ahead of ourselves.
- As amazing and thorough as your plans might be, know that they will likely change. We can’t foresee the future, we can only hedge bets. The best thing we can do is adapt.