Life Lessons from Running

Its funny how many life lessons you can find while participating in athletics.  I had a realization today during my morning workout with Marshall as we were running through the birch forest behind our apartment:

Pick your plan of action before beginning, then proceed as outlined.

Let me explain.

Before a run, it can be tempting to say, "I am just going to see where my run takes me." The danger with this sort of workout plan, or lack thereof, is that when you start to feel your muscles burn and your heart rate increase, it is tempting to turn around and run back home. We all know that improvement in any area, including fitness, doesn't come without hard work and sometimes pain, sweat, and tears. 

Our backyard!
This is one of the many trails in the birch & boreal forest behind our house that we love to run on.





Before we headed out this morning, I asked him what we were going to run.  After discussing it for a minute, we made a plan and then began.  Boy am I glad we made a workout plan because it could have been too easy to cut the mileage down, or lower the number of intervals around the track we were going to do, or lower the pace at which we were running.  In the heat of battle, its not always easy to go on.  So it is with life. If we don't know what we stand for or who we are, what are we going to say when faced with a tough decision or a temptation?  Are we really strong enough to make the decision when we are tired, emotionally spent, or surrounded by supposedly bad influences? Maybe. But maybe not.

I can only speak for myself, but I know that I am more successful when I first make a decision, and then stick to my plan.  I never cut a workout short just because I find myself tired in the middle of it.  Running is hard.  It is painful. And I sure felt it today.  But we had made a workout plan, and we were going to stick to it.  Marshall was my strength when I thought I couldn't go on.  In turn, I pushed him when he was tired.  Together, we helped each other and we both succeeded.  Because we had made our plan before the struggle came, we were successful. 

So if you don't get anything else out of this post, I hope you remember one thing:

Decide today what you stand for and where you are going. Start with your next workout. 

I promise you that Missy Franklin doesn't hop into the pool everyday and just swim for however long she feels like.

If you don't know where you are going,you'll end up someplace else.-Yogi Berra