Life is a 3 mile run

        I ran 15 miles in the last 4 days. I can only imagine what I can do with the whole week. The sun is out, the weather is amazing (temp of ~40-50F), I’m feeling light on my feet and I have all this pent up energy from hibernating during this winter season. Also, Spring Forward (gained an hour) occurred so that means I have more light in the evening to squeeze in a late run.

I set a goal for 50 miles over the next 4 weeks and my aim is to exceed it. During today’s 3 mile run, I realized that some life experiences are parallel to that during my three mile run:

Do not fear pain, embrace it: for new runners out there, the first 5 runs will be the hardest thing you have ever done. I have been running sporadically for the past 6 years now and every time I get started, I sort of fizz out because of being aggravated for some reason, either because of some sort of joint pain, breathing issues, timing or weather issues. There was always an excuse.Today’s 3 mile run, albeit shorter than my average (usually 5-6 miles) was the one of my fastest runs with the feeling that I could have done more. I didn’t even get a bother from my left knee issue (which I screwed up during a soccer game). I also ran with my dog and still made this my 2nd fastest run by time, so technically, it was my fastest run because as a doggie mama, we have to stop every 1 minute for a quick pee. Practice makes perfect, but if you stop, its okay to start from ground zero.

Always challenge yourself: don’t beat yourself up if you don’t beat a previous challenge, change the challenge to accommodate your level and work your way up. The important thing is to push yourself. There are different ways to do this. You can go a bit faster, you can run longer, you can also increase the frequency of your runs during the week. I find that when I set group challenges with friends, being competitive by nature, I aim to outshine. This is where I take my brain power and convert it to physical power for personal benefit. Growth is only accomplished by winning over an obstacle, and happiness is derived from that victory.

Spice things up: run a different route, ask a buddy for a run, bike instead of a run, run backwards, dance while jogging. Enjoy the experience. Variety is the spice of life. 

Finally BREATHE: you’d be amazed by how less painful an experience is if you just concentrate on inhaling and exhaling. For some reason it knocks down the rating on a pain scale. I am sure my scientists of friends can break down the molecular reasoning but that won’t be necessary here because its simple- You need air to survive! Whether doing yoga or running a marathon, there is a sense of relief, a release of endorphin from the simple act of breathe in, and out! Applying that to your life makes things much clearer!