Being There Mentally

This past weekend was my first school weekend, so I decided to lay low and get stuff done for ME. Well that and no one invited me to go hang out at their school this weekend ;) Kidding! But Catherine, Katie and I have lots of plans this fall to visit each others schools and this weekend happened to be an off weekend. Gah! I miss my friends.

Anyway, a little over a month ago I had this idea to sign up for a marathon. Because well why wouldn’t I finish 2014 with a bang? So I convinced my running buddies to sign up, we got a hotel room and we have all started training.

As the training moves along each weekend I run a little longer. This past weekend I ran 18! Eighteen fricken miles. BY MYSELF. That was the most exciting part because I usually cannot run unless it is with Catherine or Katie. I guess I depend on them too much. Ha!

But running 18 miles really made me realize something, for probably the first time ever, and yes I realize I am a little behind, BUT: I finally get what people say when they say that  “running is almost more mental than physical”. I always thought I got it but I really do not think I got it until this morning.

If your head is not in the right place you will not be able to finish a run. You HAVE to be there mentally and physically. What I mean by this is get rid of the negative self talk, of the I can not do this, the fricken excuses, say adios to it all if you want to be successful.

I am the queen of all of the above. It is raining? Guess I cannot run. I have my period? Guess I cannot run. I have to wake up at 5:30 am? Eh, not feeling it, guess I will not run.

Today I did something a little different. I ran from my parent’s house around 3 different towns (ok, really Grant, Mahtomedi and Stillwater, but it sounds better saying 3 towns). And I let myself sleep until 7. I did not force myself to wake up at 4:45 am just so I could run.

And when I woke up the first thing I thought was you are going to do this, you are so strong and amazing! It is a great day to be a runner.

Yes, I realize this sounds cheesy AF. But really, I did not put negative thoughts into my head AT ALL.

The whole 18 miles, 3:40 minutes I crushed it. I was SUCCESSFUL. I only walked one time and that is when I waddled to the outhouse to go to the bathroom.

I got home from this run and sat outside for a while and reflected on life. I do not do this enough! But I think it was so much fun to reflect on life because I was in a good place. A good place because I did not let myself go to the negative side mentally.

The whole day I have felt amazing. I was driving back to my place and I was talking to myself about how amazing I am for going after something that scares me so much. How awesome it is that I have completely changed my life in the past two years.

And all of that makes everything worth it. When you feel proud, you have been successful.