Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize?So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win the prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete training it to do what it should, Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
The final thing that I have learned from running in my first 5k is that there were days leading up to the race that I DID NOT feel like running. When I first started running I struggled running for 60 seconds, so I had to get back in shape. To do that I decided to run 4 days a week. Our family's schedule is a little hectic in the evening and I want to spend as much time as possible with the kiddos before they go to bed. Because of this, I set my run times EARLY in the morning.
I would get up and run around 6:15am four days a week and several days I DID NOT want to get up. Especially as the mornings got darker darker and colder. Honestly the first 10 minutes were horrible. I hated it. I had to make my body and mind come into agreement with my purpose of running 3.1 miles. I had to DISCIPLINE myself to get out of bed, especially on Saturday mornings. If I had the not, I would not have been able to run the race, I would have had to walk/run it.
I touched on the subject of Discipline in a previous post. But what I found is that there are periods, after you set a goal and set your directions, that you are going to want to "take a break". You will try to convince yourself that you deserve the break with all kinds of excuses.
It's too early.
It's too late.
I don't have time right now.
I'll do it later.
I've been doing really good so far.
This is too difficult.
One excuse can lead to another one, then another, and then another. Finally, we are no longer pursuing the finish line. You have to make yourself do what you are supposed to do in order to cross that finish line. If you don't, you are disqualifying yourself from the race and you will loose. Once you've been disqualified, in order to cross the finish line, you may have to go back the starting line. Then thought of having to start all over can lead to complete surrender and giving up.
Whatever goal you've set, or finish line you defined in your life. You're not always going to feel like training and making the preparations for your race. Do whatever it takes to make sure you can cross it. If not you'll wind up discouraged and starting over or dropping out. Set the alarm, disable the snooze, get up, and run!
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