TheFathlete.com

I had an epiphany today during a particularly difficult run on the treadmill.  I have lots of epiphanies when I run, usually on the road, but today was exceptionally grueling for me & my mind started grasping for ways to cope.  That is how I operate.  I get delirious and the most amazing ideas pop in my head.  Yes, I know how that sounds.  Today when I was running & simultaneously wishing that the treadmill would sling a belt & I would go flying off backwards just for a few moments so I could catch my breath, I thought of how my lungs were burning.  I have said this before & I’ll say it again, “starting over sucks!”  So today while my face pouring sweat & so red I looked like a fresh washed tomato, I recalled advice I have given many a newbie.  When asked about the pain of running my first question was always “Is it your lungs or your legs?”  If they replied lungs, I had little sympathy.   I’m not trying to be callous, but lungs you can work through.  Lungs you can push through.  When your lungs feel like all the air has been squeezed out with a ringer type washer and set on fire, just keep going.  Maybe slow down a little, maybe, but keep going!  If it’s leg, feet or other pain, carefully assess the situation.  Many a full-blown injury has occurred from someone trying to push past that pain.  I don’t recommend it.

So as my lungs were on fire & my left hand came up to slow down the treadmill I caught myself.  Would I take my own advice and push on through?  Or would I seek the easier way out & slow down and try better tomorrow?  You guessed it, I pushed through.  I am only doing a 5k (I don’t mean to sound like a snot, seriously a 5k is nothing to snub your nose at) which for me is a short distance, but I am starting over.  To be smart about it, I have to work my way up just like any other newbie out there.  I am earning my miles one stride at a time.  The only way to suck less at running is to run more.  You must never-ever give up.

So back to the epiphany, I thought today while I was hurting, pain is the body’s way of throwing a temper tantrum.  You know the kind I’m talking about, the small child in the store whose legs are now like cooked spaghetti & try as he/she might the parent cannot convince this child that what he/she wants is not going in the cart.   They scream, they cry, they try to pull the parent to the ground & they dig in their heels.  I know as a parent you must choose your battles carefully.  Today my screaming toddler, aka my lungs, lost the fight.  I did not give in.  I did not slow down.  I pulled myself up with dignity and showed my lungs that crying, screaming and trying to stop functioning would not work.  That doing those things will not bring relief to the situation.   The last 4 minutes of the run I even kicked up the speed an extra half mile an hour, just cause I knew I could!  And I lived through it just so I could write this post.  When I looked down noticed only 47 seconds left in the run, I knew I had it.  Ahh, that cool down walk was deserved and felt so nice.  I felt like a runner again.  After a long break it’s days like this that remind me why I run.  The feeling of accomplishment I get after ordinary everyday runs, which makes me feel like a Kenyan again.   So remember to take your own good advice.  Remember that discipline is good not only for children, but for our grown up selves as well.    Happy Running!