Denver, Colorado - Having discovered this incredible sport in middle school, the lessons found through running over the past two decades have been vast. When we seek endurance daily, this choice is an invaluable tool in our development as a student of life. We, runners, often find new layers of self-improvement through the simple act of lacing up those shoes and going to get in those miles. Comment at the bottom with your lessons learned, here are a few of mine:
We all look forward to your insights in the comments below. What lesson(s) has running taught you? These can be simple lessons, or perhaps life changing ones, no matter the level we can all learn from other's life experiences as runners.
4 comments
well done!
as my friend and 3x Olympic Nordic Biathlon Don Nielson taught me in the early ’80’s; TTT – Things Take Time
Perseverance for sure! And this perseverance found its way into other areas of my life. One memory: in high school my amazing distance coach, Pat Tyson, had us run 10 miles on the track once a year. I always tried to get out of it but had the most amazing sense of accomplishment afterwards. I liked running that far, but not on the monotonous track for 40 laps! Now when I do a long run I get that same feeling, but I enjoy the journey as I get out there for a nice slow long run. Long runs are my favorite for the extended mental break and the feeling of accomplishment during and afterwards.
Patience, for sure! Building success in running takes time and consistent effort – which is true in the rest of life as well. Also – You CAN do hard things! Sometimes I will literally say to myself, out loud: “You can do this, you’ve / / etc.” Once you have a few awesome badass adventures under your belt, you can always draw on those experiences, in running and in life ;)
Go slow to go fast. Things take time, and practice. Professionals aren’t professional overnight, right? Then why make yourself feel like you can do what they never did! Embrace the pace, Slow it down and learn to pace yourself.
Pacing yourself today, allows you to have a longer, healthier, running life!