So I realize I’m a bit behind on my days of thankfulness, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been thankful. It just means life got a little more crazy than it has been.
On Saturday I had the honor of assisting my friend Whitney as a part of her fiance Stephen’s race crew. Stephen is one of those crazy inspirational individuals who runs ultramarathons. By definition, an ultramarathon is any race with a distance longer than a marathon (so longer than 26.2) miles, however the more common distances are 50k, 50m, 100k, and 100m. On Saturday, Stephen ran his second 100 miler, the Javalina Jundred here in Arizona, finishing in 23.5 hours.
Simply being at this race was a little intimidating, but mostly inspiring. You get to watch as people push themselves beyond what seems humanly possible, and to accomplish amazing feats. And it reminded me yet again what it is that I love about running so much.
When I was running my marathon, Whitney ran with me for about 15 miles (how’s that for friendship, eh?). While we were running, she asked me what it is that I love about running. We talked about several different aspects, but I told her the thing that running has taught me the most is that I don’t have to be held captive by my feelings. My whole life I’ve been a rather emotional person, and that can be a strength when it manifests in empathy and compassion. But it has also meant I largely let me reality be shaped by my feelings.
Running taught me to look beyond that. When I was training for my first half-marathon, every time I would hit 2.5ish miles, I would want to stop. It didn’t matter if I was running 3 miles that day or 10. I still always felt at 2.5 that I needed to stop, that I was tired and didn’t like running. But I learned to push past that. I learned that the way I felt didn’t have to be the most true thing, that I didn’t have to let my reality be dictated by my feelings. There was truth that was outside of my feelings. Learning this truth through running and then allowing that to carry over into all of the areas of my life was life-changing. Becoming a runner is perhaps the single most maturing element of my life over the past several years. I learned commitment. I learned discipline. I learned perseverance. And I learned to look for and cling to what I knew to be truth in a situation, and allow that to dictate my actions, instead of my feelings.
While training for my marathon, I got a stress fracture in my leg. I’ve had to take the past 5 weeks or so off from running as I’ve been going to physical therapy and allowing my leg to heal. Not gonna lie, it’s been tough. I feel like I’ve been going a bit stir crazy. But regardless, I’m so grateful that I became a runner, and what it has taught me along the way. I can’t wait to get out on the road again.
Today, I’m thankful for running.
