3/24/13:
Run: 3.1 miles. A far cry from the 100 I had planned on running. Yet, those 3.1 miles were wonderful nonetheless. In coming back from injury I have been trying to live fully in the moment and embrace what is. I used to feel that a run could not be worthy of being ‘peaceful’ and ‘wonderful’ unless it stretched my limits and lasted a few hours. The longer, the better. It is true that those long runs bring me to a place of peace and reflection that shorter runs have not been able to, at least not in the past. But as I am seeing, God at times has plans that differ from our own and we need to be willing to adapt. That includes changing our mindset and looking at the things that bring us joy and finding pleasure in every moment. My impatience has always been my downfall, especially when coming back from an injury. My inability to ease back into running, believing that I can’t enjoy a run unless I go LONG, has often caused me to succumb to a string of injuries that have prolonged my return to the sport I love. I must learn from these mistakes and not be so eager to follow my ‘old’ ideas, but rather, allow my mistakes and trials to reshape how I look at things and how I live my life.
As I stepped out on the trail today I felt the presence of spring. This was nature’s gentle reminder that everything in life is cyclical, yet we must wait for the right season. We cannot rush nature, and we, our bodies, are part of nature. We must not rush our healing or our desires. We must learn first to find joy in the present, which will only heighten any joy we WILL receive in the near future, if we just learn to trust and be patient. I may have only run 3.1 miles today, but I carry the peace that I felt on that run with me still. Isn’t that what running is about? It isn’t really the distance or time that make a run ‘life-changing’, but rather the feelings that it evokes and the peace that it brings.
RUN HAPPY!
My Ultrarunning Journey 