Enjoy the Moment
There’s no other feeling in the world like crossing the finish line of a marathon - relief, pain, accomplishment - pure happiness. I do believe it’s the finish line that keeps us coming back to the marathon over and over again.
People often ask in disbelief, “WHY would you put yourself through that?” My first response is usually, “because it’s fun and I love to do it.” But on a deeper level, I really think it’s that special moment when you cross that finish line.
Even though we say it’s just one moment - it’s one of those “moments” that lasts a lot longer than one second. It’s one of those “moments” when you realize that all your hard work was totally worth it. And, it feels so good to be done! At that point, it doesn’t matter if you just ran your personal best or your personal worst - you just ran another marathon, and 26.2 miles is a long way to run any way you look at it.
We experience many finish lines, both in running (literally) and in other things we do. When I have 5 miles on my training schedule, I “dial in” 5 miles, and that’s how far I’m going. When I get to 5 miles, I’m happy to see that “finish line,” and I am thinking to myself, “Man, I’m glad I didn’t have to go 7 miles today.” But when I have 18 miles on my schedule, I do the same thing - I “dial in” 18, and I don’t even think about crossing the finish line until I’ve gone 18 miles. Both finish lines feel good.
Perhaps it’s the sense of accomplishment, of the completion of a task or a goal. It’s similar to finishing a project, whether it’s a work project or cleaning out the garage. It’s that good feeling that you finished what you started.
You’ll cross a number of finish lines today. When you recognize how good it feels to reach a goal - no matter how large or small it is - you’ll start to be more productive in everything you do because you’ll want to capture that feeling again. Pay attention to that feeling of accomplishment and enjoy the moment.