Growing up I participated in track and field from 8th grade all the way to my senior year of college. I competed in the sprinting events so anything over 400 meters was legitimately terrifying. One year I randomly decided to do the Cleveland Turkey Trot. It was a 5 mile race that ran through downtown Cleveland on the morning of Thanksgiving. I figured this would be a great way to start the day before eating everything in sight at my aunt’s :D. I didn’t want to train for it nor was I going to train for it, but I sure as hell wanted to do it although I was slight unsure of my capabilities. Writing this to you now, I’ve done the trot at least 4 or 5 times with an obligatory early morning stop at the Starbucks on W. 6th Street–tradition is everything ya feel?
Each year has been a different experience in terms of weather, company, and physical ability. 2015/2016 was the most difficult for me and what inspired the title of this blog, holllllaaa.
I remember feeling very unsure about running this year. I knew I hadn’t done much cardio at all during the previous months, and I also had put on some size for my bodybuilding competitions, FEE FI FO FUM! JK, but it seriously felt like that at times. At the beginning I told myself to take it a step at a time and or a mile at a time. I wanted so badly to be at the finish line before I even started, to know that I made it, to say I accomplished it, and move onto dinner, but unfortunately that’s not how it works!
The only way to get to the finish line is to run the miles in between start and finish. As in, the only way to achieve any goal in life is to start and keep putting one foot in front of the other.
I remember finishing that race and pulling out my phone to tell Snapchat something similar (lolz). No fancy tricks, no gimmicks, just one stride at a time until my eyes saw the finish line. You don’t have to know how you’re going to do it just that you are going to do it. Trying to map out all of the steps in one sitting will probably feel a little overwhelming. We really just to need to 1. Start and 2. Take the next step. I ran that 5 mile race that day, not by sprinting to the end, but by consistently running each mile in between.
Whatever your goal may be, know that is it attainable if you believe it to be. Make a decision and then see the final outcome in your mind. You really don’t have to have it all figured out, just the next step! In the great words of Bob Proctor, we only need to know where we’re going and that we’re going to get there. When situations feel impossible, break them down and make um smaller and then chip away at them one mile at a time.
Until next time friends!
–Lauren