"You keep telling yourself what you know. But what do you believe? What do you feel?"
As a runner, her is what I know. I run consistently at an 8:30 pace. There are times when I run faster, days when I have been really in the zone, the weather is perfect, I got enough sleep, etc. and I run faster. But if you look at my weekly average, I run at 8:30. This is what I know.
What I believe is that I can be faster. Earlier in the summer I set the goal of qualifying for Boston at the marathon in December. For my age group that means I have to run a 3:10 (or 7:10 pace). I believe it is possible. I'm 20 weeks out and this week I will have run 32 miles (if everything goes well with the 9 miler tomorrow morning). Last year, for my first marathon I didn't break 30 miles until week 10 or so.
What I feel is...uncertain. I don't think I will know the realistic possibility of the goal until I run the half marathon in October. It's the uncertainty that drives me. I feel like I can do this, however, at the moment the evidence indicates that it is unlikely I'll be ready by December, so do I follow what I "know" or what I believe?
Additional motivation for today: "You're going to fail eventually, why fail at something mediocre?" -David Duchemin
(thanks @bellphotog and @ShootRunTri for posting this on Twitter)
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2 comments:
Very great post. With God, all things are possible. If you believe you will get a BQ, that is fine, but with that, comes a lot of hard work as you already know. I believe I will become a faster runner in time. What I have achieved in the last 1.5 years is proof of what is to come. With running, Some days you have those awesome runs, and others, not so good. For me, I am not really a BQ kind of runner. In other words, Boston has no appeal for me as it does for others. Maybe once I do get faster, that will change. lol. Love the work you do and this blog. Take care and God Bless man.
Completely agreed. You also bring up a great point, everyone needs to have their own motivation for running. I want to get faster so I can BQ, others its simply to stay in shape. For my wife, its the social aspect.
Whatever your goal is, may God bless you as you seek after it.
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