Running 4 Your Life

All the things I’ve been talking about in my blog up until now converge these few days before the Eugene Marathon. I’m now in the home stretch leading up to race day, and as I prepare for the actual “event,” I reflect on the past 6 months of training:

How you do anything is how you do everything: I commit to a goal, I stay focused, I am disciplined, I manage my time, and I persist until I succeed.

You can’t do it alone: Rarely does anyone achieve any meaningful success on their own. Coach Scott has worked with me for the past 6 months helping me get stronger both physically and mentally. My husband, who often asks, “Can’t we just go on a vacation without having to run a race?” has hung out with me on my long runs setting water along the path so I didn’t have to carry a waterbelt. My kids and friends have listened to me talk about my track workouts, my tempo runs, and my long runs - even when some of them don’t know what the heck I’m talking about.

Everyday we’re tested: I’ve trained through a cold and snowy Idaho winter - one of the coldest in a long time (I hear). I thought training in Idaho would be a piece of cake compared to training in Chicago during the winter. Idaho was no bargain. Cold, snow, ice, rain, wind. I probably ran only half a dozen runs… (more…)

Every connection we make has a purpose, whether it’s a connection with a person, an animal, or nature. Clearly, we don’t always recognize the purpose at the time, and many we may never recognize. But if you reflect on some of the connections you’ve made in your life, you’ll discover the purpose of the encounter and maybe realize that you learned something in the process.

I keep a journal of the connections that I recognize, and it’s amazing how

• one person leads to another who provides just the thing you were looking for…
• then someone recommends a book…
• you get the book and learn something from that book that is exactly what you needed to hear right then…
• someone tells you about an event…
• you go to the event and meet someone who later becomes a friend or a client…

When you become aware that everything and everyone is connected…, (more…)