Hump day is upon us and every body is counting down the days till the weekend. Don’t get me wrong generally the weekend is better than the week. But each day brings new things that not everyone takes the time to appreciate.
I’m nearing the end of my first month of training, at the beginning I found myself scrambling to put a quick run in. I would manage my time poorly and then end up running my weeks goal in one day. I just couldn’t get motivated to go for a run. I thought that I would be more productive sitting at my desk either studying or writing a paper than taking 45min out of my day to go for a quickie. Truth is I should have broken up my day by going for a run. Being so active I find myself struggling to sit still and can’t get any work done. I also find running and exercise help me focus once I hunker back down to study. I am finding it easier to get motivated to run as I can feel my body getting back into running shape and being able to go further than the run before.
The boyfriend texted me a couple weeks ago saying we had 295 days till the big race. I had mix emotions about that number as I thought well if I round up (simple math isn’t my forte) that’s almost a year, I’ve got loads of time and then I thought about it again and went wait that’s less than a year, thats not enough time (just a small example about what goes on in my head in a span of a second). I thought about it again and realized I don’t want to be underwhelmed or overwhelmed about the number of days I have till race day. I want to be in control and take charge about how I feel each day, so that I know when race comes that I’ve prepared myself.
Quick Detour:
In Grande Cache, the night after the CDR I had the privilege of bumping into Dag Aabye and his daughter outside the Grande Cache bar. This man is everything you want to be in a person. The whole time we were talking with him I was just in awe. Everything he said was liquid gold. He is the oldest man to have completed the death race and pure inspiration. We ended up talking about future races and what his next plan was. He stopped the conversation and said it doesn’t matter. I was rather confused at this point, an athlete that doesn’t care about what he’s going to do next? How can it not matter. He said
“Look down. It does not matter where your feet were yesterday, or where they are going to be tomorrow. It matters where your feet are at this moment in time.”
Since my encounter with Dag I keep this quote in the back of my mind. I finally realized what he was saying. Just be in the present and appreciate everyday, the rest will follow.
I use this as a simple reminder to take time out of my day to do something for me whether its a run, walk, or workout. Every little bit matters when you are working towards your ultimate goal.
Thank you Dag.
trialsandtrails 