Woo hoo, I got tagged by Quick Like a Bunny! How fun 
I have to write a memoir in six words or less…
I can take it.
So, coming in the door from a two-hour workout where I ran/walked, then my trainer kicked my butt with a legs workout for an hour, then I ran/walked another two miles… I can take it!
I was thinking about the very first time two months ago when I thought I might try this Leukemia Society Team in Training thing, where they teach you how to run a marathon. I mentioned it to my trainer (a very awesome guy, by the way, he pushes me in just the right way, just short of breaking me!), and he told me running a marathon is really all about “mental toughness”. You know, running through pain and pushing yourself to keep going when you want to quit.
So on THAT day, I told him I would finally start doing cardio, which he’d been bugging me to do for weeks. I finished a tough workout with him, then went upstairs to do 20 minutes of cardio.
Man, it was SO HARD! I did the bike for five minutes and was dying, then I did the stair stepper for five minutes and killed myself, then I did the elliptical for five minutes, then I sat on the recumbent bike and dragged myself through five more minutes. I did it slow and the whole time, I was thinking, I have to quit, this can’t be good for me! Then I practically fell down the stairs and went up to where Justin was working out and gave a thumbs up. “Mental toughness”, I said. “I did it”.
Here we are, two months from that time, and I’m upstairs pumping through a two mile walk/run, with more run times and faster speeds than I’ve done before, and that’s after a previous mile run and an hour kick-butt workout. And this last weekend, I did a 5k training walk/run, then immediately did a real “event”, a 5k walk/run for the Girls on the Run group.
I can take it!
So I’m going to tag RoadRunner , who just joined my BlogCatalog neighborhood, and RunColo, because apparently you have to tag two bloggers! And I’m also going to tag two of my friends who support me in my running, Patti and Becca.
Filed under: Mental toughness | Tagged: exercise, fitness, jogging, marathon, running, team in training
Why thank you – I have never umm.. been tagged before (I don’t think anyway…)
Good luck with the marathon! One of my daughters and I participated in the Team-in-Training Anchorage Marathon about ten years ago, and it’s an experience that we still talk about. It was awesome! About 40 people from the Myrtle Beach area all met for our weekly meetings and “training,” but after a few weeks we began pairing up with someone who walked/ran about our pace. We flew to Anchorage on Thursday, did some sightseeing on Friday, ran the marathon on Saturday, and flew home on Sunday. I still think about those people and how we bonded.
Here’s one of the comments that kept me running. In fact, it still motivates me. We were at a motivational meeting, and a woman from out of town who had “done” the Alaska marathon came to talk to us about “staying the course.” She said that when we finished the 26.2 miles, we’d be tired, sore, hungry, weak, blistered, and so forth. I was beginning to get a little discouraged! Anyway, she reminded us that after a shower, a good meal, and night’s rest that we’d be as good as new…well, amost. However, the leukemia and cancer patients we were raising the money and running for wouldn’t be so lucky. That was so true, and it really struck a chord for me since one of my good friends and my mother both had forms of leukemia, and I knew that they’d never ever be able to run again…and that if by some miracle they could, then it would take more than a few hours of sleep and food to restore their lost energy.
Keep on running!
I’ll work on the memoir in six words or less. It’s just not going to be six words or less.
Thanks for the tag!
Would you mind adding me to your “Running Blogs I really like”?
Keep up with the training!
You are now added! And you’re awesome, I love the resources on your site.
I finally saw that I was tagged! It turned out to be just a bit longer than 6 words total!