Today is week 5 five of the Genesis training our coach Matt said it’s his second favorite week because we are at the mid-way point. Of course, his favorite week is the week of the race..but anyway. Today unlike last week was cool, cloudy, misty 58 degrees; quite the contrast from last week’s 88 degrees..it is June right? It had been raining all day and I was looking for reasons not to go to the training tonight, my leg was a little sore, it was raining, it was cold, I have a little bit of a cold; I was trying my best to come up with something. Then I get an email at work; my monthly newsletter Dr. David Mee-Lee’s Tips and Topics. This month’s issue was written by his son Tyler who wrote about when he decided to stop drinking alcohol for three months. The tips he gave for doing any task whether it’s breaking a habit or learning new behavior were, first remember why you’re doing it. This was almost as if this was a clear message for me! I had forgotten momentarily why I started this training in the first place. My main reason or my “why” was to finish the race and cross the finish line. This can’t happen if I don’t go the training sessions and do my practice runs. His second tip was to tell everyone..well I’m doing that with this blog and I’ve told many of my friends what I’m doing. So, when they ask me “how’s the running going?” I want to be able to tell them it’s going just fine and I completed week 5 and not some lame excuse for missing.
So, the lessons he learned during his three months were any uncomfortable emotion or thoughts will pass and when I get to the other side it will be bliss. So, after tonight’s run I did feel pretty good; better than I did the last week in fact. Tonight, was cycle of 5-minute run/jog. Thursday will be three 8-minute cycle and Sunday is what Matt calls the Hope Run when we do 20 minutes straight.
Which brings me to the next lesson Tyler learned…It’s easy when you’re all in. He quoted Jack Canfield who wrote the Chicken Soup for the Soul books “99% is a bear. 100% is a breeze.” If I’m in 100% there’s no room for any excuse to let myself out; as I tried to do today.
And the last lesson..I can do whatever I want. I think I had started to doubt that I can do this and make it across the finish line. Whether it’s the 20 minutes coming up or how I felt last week; doubt had crept in.
Confession…I’m a big fan of the Rocky movies..well at least the first three. In Rocky, it was all about going the distance not winning, just going the distance. I want to go the distance and finish the race, that’s my “why”; and I have to remember that’s the reason I started this in the first place.
Tammi Lewis