This Saturday I ran 12.4 miles which is around 20kms. As I was running with my group, I noticed all of the little 'punctuation points' along the course.
The first turn, the first water station, a traffic crossing, a random homeless person cheering us on. At every one of these points my mind was quickly jolted out of running mode and brought back in to the moment. I enjoyed the moments of punctuation as I went through my run and I realised that I also quite enjoy the punctuation points I have established in my daily routine.
Walk clancy, have a coffee, check my emails..all of these little rituals that break up the rest of my time. They aren't milestones or achievements, they don't mean anything, they are just breaks and just moments in the day.
The power of a break or a change of topic to help move forward when I get stuck or start rambling in an area is awesome. When I feel like an issue is exhausted or that I am waffling on without moving forward, I simple need to punctuate my thoughts and take a new action.
I feel like in my marathon journey, I am turning a new page and beginning a new chapter. This could be the part of the story when it gets hard and it hurts and I am not sure that I am going to be able to achieve my goal.
Until now, this story has been all about setting the goal, gathering the team and getting excited by the possibility of what we are all creating.
That chapter lasted until the 11th mile of my run last Saturday.
At mile 12 my entire right leg cramped up and really really hurt, I kept running but I was kinda limping and I really had to push myself. I was on the verge of tears with pain for the last 10 minutes of my run.
It really hurt and I knew that it was because I hadn't been stretching and looking after myself as well as I should have. I had been feeling tight in my hamstring all week and I have had a couple of weeks of not eating very well. I knew what was happening.
As the pain in my leg increased I started thinking about what would happen if this happened on race day? what if i couldn't do it, maybe i should stop now because what if i am about to get injured? maybe I'm not built to run a marathon...
I finished the run, came home and iced. I was sore all saturday and sunday, hobbling around, feeling sorry for myself and really tight. I kept thinking about how terrible the next few months would be if this is how I was going to feel every week, if this story was going to be about me painfully limping to the finish line.
That is what the story was going to be right up until yesterday (monday) when I went and got a massage with kevin, a muscly chinese shiatsu and reiki master.
When I was with him I remembered all of the amazing achievements I have already made with my body over the last few years, all of the weight I have lost and increased health and vitality I have gained. I have learnt alot about performance and using nutrients to fuel my body and the results have been great. I live with a qualified yoga instructor and health guru - I have all the tools I need.
So the next chapter is not going to be about pain and me enduring this journey, it is going to be about me taking all of the steps outside of my running that I can to help my body get ready for the race: Yoga, cross-training, vegan whole-food diet with lots of superfoods, chinese herbs and lots of rest. I know this works and I know that I haven't been as dedicated to my diet and wholistic health lately as I would usually be. I now know that cheating and cutting corners doesn't work.
So game on, I am punctuating my training and my journey and starting the next chapter..pain is just weakness leaving my body and now I am building towards peak performance.
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