My goals for the NY Marathon
The number one question I’ve gotten over the past four months of training for the marathon is, “do you have a time goal?” For someone who only ever dreamed of running this race, the question first seemed audacious to me. Certainly, if you asked me at the time I first ever thought about running this race, all I would have said is that I want to finish while they are still giving out medals. Still, training for this race has changed me. It has prepared me to get that medal and dared me to reach for more.
But it turns out, “more,” is not a time goal – it’s a feeling. What I’ve come to find in my own running journey – which has been one that’s tested all of my limits and pushed me beyond anything I’ve done before – is that, in the end, it’s no different than any other part of my longer journey. It’s all about winning the day! And for my New York City Marathon, here’s what that means . . .
The power of visualization
. . . . It sounds so simple. If you believe it, you can make it come true. Yet visualization has so many more layers than simply wishing something into existence. It is a path that, with preparation and dedication, can evolve from a blurry vision to a moment of pristine clarity that becomes an out of body experience. Look no further than my marathon journey to see how this plays out . . .
The emotional roller coaster of fitness
As I sat down to write the update on my marathon journey, the space I was in as I reflected on these past few weeks was filled with highs and lows. Confidence became insecurity. Optimism turned into doubt. It felt as if my dreams were better described as fantasy. I’m not here to be overly dramatic about this. In fact, I find this emotional roller coaster to be a positive thing – and one that comes with my dedication to a life of fitness.
The plot twist in my marathon journey
Before my career as a lawyer, I was an aspiring screenwriter. The rest of that story is for another day, except to say that, if I was scripting a story of someone running a marathon, it would probably go something like this. The protagonist of the story is someone who overcame significant obstacles to be able to try to achieve a long-held dream of running a marathon. Upon seemingly overcoming every hurdle in his way, he trained hard for race day and continued to improve day after day as the race approached. It appeared that not only would his dream of running a marathon happen, but he would run it faster than he ever imagined. But, naturally, a plot-twist occurs, and the protagonist faces a big setback – one that puts the marathon in jeopardy. Then, the ending can go several different ways . . .
Pain: A moment of physical and mental struggle
This is not my typical marathon post. I’m not going to provide an overall update of my training since the last post. And I’m not going to include the journal of my training below this – that will wait for the next post. I wasn’t even going to blog this week, but I want to share this moment I’m going through in real time as I struggle – both physically and mentally – to deal with pain.
I do me! (an update on marathon training)
In the end, these two weeks can be summed up in three words . . . I do me! I’ve reached a point where I’ve learned how to get more out of a marathon training program by making it my marathon training program. At times, that means taking the days I need to stay fresh. Other times it means learning how to push through it when I’m not. It means working in areas of life that define who I am while understanding that this goal of 26.2 is just one of those areas. For each one of us, the calculus is different. Only you know what it is for you. And only I can know what it is for me.
The most important lesson I’ve learned on this journey
“It is being here now that is important. There’s no past and there’s no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now.” - George Harrison
Sharing lessons from my journey over the course of Legally Fit has allowed me to reflect in ways I might not otherwise have done. I’ve reached a deeper level of soul searching. That’s not to say that it takes writing a blog to discover what’s within one’s own self, but for me, it’s been the vehicle. Still, there are times when I find that I never even asked myself the obvious. That happened recently when I was asked a question that I had never been asked before – and somewhat surprisingly not asked myself. . . “What’s the most important thing you’ve learned on this journey?” For a minute, I froze. I was so accustomed to far more specific questions such as “What’s your workout routine?” or “What’s your diet?” So, I was dumbfounded at this simple question. After a brief pause, I knew the answer, but before I share it, I’ll go deeper into where it comes from.