Mind Games

Back in January I made a goal to run a half marathon this year. My original goal was to run the Country Music Half Marathon the weekend of my 23rd birthday. Well, my hectic school/commute/work schedule just wasn't flexible enough for me to devote four days a week to 8 and 9 milers. I was able to get one or two in a week, and that just wasn't enough. Then I got hurt while running- this set me back a week. I was so upset. I felt like a failure because I did not follow through with my goal.

I say all that to preface this: On September 28th, I am running my first half marathon. I was randomly texting one of my friends that I have had the honor of knowing since the 7th grade, and we had discussed running several times before. But something led us to decide to do this together.  I started really training a little over a month ago.

Let me be honest, no one is a "runner." If they say that, it means they aren't pushing themselves hard enough. Running is by far the hardest thing you will ever do. No, I lied. Running is easy. It is overcoming the voice in your head telling you that you are about die if you go two steps further. That is the hardest thing you will ever do when it comes to running.  Running is not a physical sport. It is a mental sport.

I run on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday every week with my dad and one of his friends. So am I not only struggling to break my current long run pace, but I am trying to keep up with a 44 and 50-year-old who just had heart surgery 7 weeks ago. Talk about a blow to your ego- if you let it. But that is where I bring my point home... Running is a mental sport.

I don't try to beat them, or run better than them. That is where running turns into something else. I run to be better than I was the day before. I want my run to be better than my run before, not someone else's. Not being first does not meant you are last.

I run for every time I have said the word 'can't' or 'won't'. I run to be the best version of myself I can be. I run to become more than I was yesterday, to go farther than my mind thought my body could go.