Monday Motivation: Succumb to Difficult Elements to Succeed

With hands frozen and my body draped in layers of clothes to brace for the cold, I was sweating from the increase in metabolism generated from putting in a nine mile run. I wanted to quit running but told myself I had to endure the elements to be ready for Boston in April. I remember a woman saying to me as I stopped to get water, “You must be training for some big race to be out here in these conditions,” she remarked. “Yes, I am training for the Boston Marathon,” I said in reply. “Good luck! Keep running I know you can do it.” I could tell she was a coach or PE teacher by her attitude. Steely resolve overcomes a marathoner. It has to in order to finish the race.

Yoga was another mental and physical exercise that helped me train for Boston. In Yoga, one has to hold still in poses as legs burn and the mind wanders. Only through deep focus and fortitude can one complete a difficult yoga routine walking away more peaceful, prepared and focused on work ahead. Resolute determination is the other gift of marathon training.

When people ask me “How did you ever run the Boston Marathon,” I simply reply, “I put in the miles and hours needed to know I could do it; if I never trained through hot, cold, rainy, and sunny conditions, I couldn’t have accomplished it because I wouldn’t have believed I could.” Yesterday, as my husband and I stood out in a heavy rain storm for to finish blasting the top coat of our deck because the machine had to be returned this morning, I simply “gave into the elements” just like in marathon training, and seriously enjoyed the feeling of once again accomplishing something most people wouldn’t do in those circumstances. “It makes me mentally stronger,” I acknowledged to my husband. I’m willing to get my hands dirty if I need to – another personal and business motto of mine.