Progress report: 25 November 2008

Little to report today. I am taking today off after my 62:00 run yesterday morning. I will put runs in tomorrow, Friday, and likely on Saturday as well. My right hamstring is still noticeably tight. I know this has been linked to a hip flexor issue for the better part of 6 months, but I just cannot seem to shake it. I am doing my best to be mindful of it, but another trip to the massage therapist may be in order.

So I sat home last night and watched videos from the Philadelphia Marathon. Of course, I was completely sucked into the emotion and grandeur of the whole thing. The question keeps popping into my mind... Can I really do that? I wonder. I truly wonder.

But then I think back to the No Boundaries groups I have been coaching. Surely when they started off on their respective journeys they felt some sense of trepidation, some inkling of doubt. The initial intervals of 90 seconds of running must have seemed like an eternity for some of them. In fact, they told me as much... OFTEN. This, for me, is really no different than that.
I preach all the time that our bodies want to be progressively more and more active. However it is our minds which work to prevent our bodies from doing that which they were obviously built to acheive... MOVE. My most negative thinking with regard to distance running usually comes during the tougher part of a training run... My mind, in an attempt to shut down the whole operation, will do anything and everything to debilitate my efforts and put me on a fast track including little more than the couch, the refrigerator and, if I am lucky, the bathroom.

So, in the end, it really is nothing more complicated than mind over matter. I don't mind running so long as I don't let my brain matter, well, matter. Pushing that mental edge of the equation is truly the great variable in the equation of self-care. Each person's value attached to that variable is different. Some can push to the N-th degree without even thinking about it. Me, I tend to want to cave in. During my first half marathon, I wanted to stop. I really did. The last three (3) miles were the worst I have ever run in my life in every way imagineable. I thought about cutting across the line during the little out-and-back part. I even thought about quitting altogether. What was I ever thinking when I signed up for this thing?

But something funny happened on the way to the Forum... I did it. I stopped listening to my mind and just went. Now, when I finished, I WAS finished. No doubt there. But there was no real sense of regret for having done it. Rather, the first thing that popped into my mind was: "What's next?"

Well, I think I found it. The third Sunday in November, 2009. The Philadelphia Marathon. I am not sayin'. I'm just sayin'. It's a thought. Hopefully, my brain will not get too much in the way.

Who knew re-gifting could feel so good?

Having the opportunity – let alone the ability – to create something tangible is a goal that many of us have. Some create art, save lives, write books, and erect structures. While these are all noble pursuits, to affect other peoples’ lives in a positive manner, to help them see not only the beauty and potential in themselves but also in others may perhaps be the best of all.

The time I have had over the past year to work with, mentor, and help beginner runners, would-be healthier folks, and otherwise individuals who just wanted to feel good about something (anything!) has been nothing short of priceless. Having lived the way that I have lived, having neglected the way I have neglected, having thought the way I have thought, it is no small miracle that I am still here, working on my own self-care plan while at the same time, trying to help so many others flush out their own self-doubt.

People continue to ask me why I continue to coach beginning runners… The answer could not be more simple. The pride I have in the people with whom I have trained pales in comparison to the joy I see when they take what they have learned and apply it not only to their own daily lives, but when it is re-gifted to others. It has been my experience that people truly want to absorb the information, motivation, and tools they want and need to develop and maintain their self-care plans. The real gift, to me, is seeing them repackage those tools and pass them along to others. The gift that keeps on giving…

You have something to offer someone else with that which you have learned. Rest assured. Passing that gift along to someone else who may be in the same position you were some time ago is perhaps the most gratifying thing you can do aside from your personal accomplichments. You have these gifts inside of you. Much like this self-care plan you are developing, which needed nothing more than a swift little unearthing, you have these things inside of you.

Take what you have learned and share it with others. They may nod in a somewhat empty, listening-to-the-in-laws kind of way, but I guarantee at least some of your message will stick. Let them know from where you came. Explain to them how you have toiled to get to where you are. Then, tell them where you want to be going forward. Your heart will swell with a unique sense of self-pride the likes of which may have never felt. But think of the person who receives your gift. If you have packaged it well, complete with an appealing bow to tie it all together, odds are good that your gift will be re-gifted from them to someone else. Now, look at what you have started…

So I ask you… How will you re-gifted that which you have been given? And to whom?