One of my boys favorite books when they were little was The Little Engine That Could. That feel good story about a little train who knew he could get over the mountain and did. We can all learn from that little blue train.
Seriously.
How many times do we talk ourselves out of something before we even attempt it? Believing you can do something will push you to at least try. Doubting that you can do it will make you say, “What is the point?” We need to take a lesson from the little blue engine. Now I’m not saying just because I start chanting, “I think I can. I think I can.” am I going to be able to run a sub 3 marathon. What it does mean though is that if I set a somewhat realistic goal like a sub 4:30, I might be able to do it with lots of hard work. It’s all abut knowing where you are and pushing yourself to do the things that might be just a little bit hard.
It’s about going out of your comfort zone.
Today I pushed myself out of the relatively comfy running I’ve been doing. I decided that I needed to push myself from where I am today not 4 months ago.
You know what?
It was a good run.
I had a plan. I wanted to do 5 miles. I wanted to push myself to run faster than I have been lately which has been in the mid 11’s. I also wanted to get back to controlling my pace and not letting it control me.
It might not look like it, but I felt like I took control back today. My goal was a warm up mile, 2 miles at 10:30, 1 at 10:15 and 1 at 10:00. Then I came home and took the dog for a mile walk to cool down. So I actually got in 6 miles today!
What was different about today’s run. I went into in knowing it was going to be hard. It was hard. What surprised me though is that after I started running I actually tweaked my plan to these paces shaving off 10 seconds for each mile. Even then I did feel like I had to hold back and I had to keep myself in check. Overall it was a good run and it was a good confidence booster.
It might have been just what I needed.
I think I can.
I think I can.
I will.
The Accidentally Running Mama 