Importance Of Running Your Own Race
Many of you who have trained for any distance race that is out there, knows the amount of commitment and time one has to put in each day, each week and each month. There aren’t many who can say they have just gone out and ran an Ultra 100k race without training for it.
The ups and downs one faces during training can be an emotional rollercoaster. Train too much, too soon, and runner’s face the dreaded injury bug that comes with the stress put on your body before its ready to complete what you are asking of it. Train too little, and you’ll certainly have issues completing your scheduled race.
Traps Runner's Fall Into
Those of you who are experienced runners, do you remember your first race that you signed up for? Do you remember the feeling you had when you made it to the starting line? Did you follow a training regime? What emotions did you feel? Those of you who trained, did you follow your training plan on race day? Did you set a race goal? Or did you just sign up and tried your best to make it to the finish line?
Key trap’s people fall into:
- Lack of planning
- Not being consistent with training
- Showing up to the starting line injured
- Poor hydration
- Just running race to check off a bucket list item
- Letting your competitive side get the best of you. Running at a pace that is much faster than you’ve trained for or runner faster than your capabilities based on race distance.
- Failing to make adjustments on race day due to the difficulty of the course, weather conditions, physical abilities, and number of participants lined up on race day.
Life Comparisons
In life if we fail to prepare, fail to learn, fail to adjust, fail to set realistic goals, fail to fight through adversity or fail to accept our flaws, we often get discouraged and back away from things that seem out of reach.
But what we really need to reflect on is the fact that without obstacles, without challenges, without goals, without living outside of our comfort zone; we limit ourselves from living the life we were meant to live.
Challenges, adversity, failing, not having all the answers, living outside of your comfort zone, chasing your dreams, going after your purpose are all meant to help you achieve the life you were meant to live.
We are born to leave this world better than we found it. To break barriers, do the impossible, inspire others to live their best lives. So why do we stay within our comfort zone? Is it to fit in? or to not be exposed due to our short comings?
TRC wants to give you some homework. Research the most successful people in human history. What you’ll uncover is that a majority of successful people had to overcome adversity while running their own race. The end goal wasn’t based on time or them doing everything right. It was failing forward and never giving up. It was believing in something that was impossible to the world.
Will You Run Your Race Or Someone Else's?
Dare to live your life on your terms. If you want to run a marathon, make a plan, train, put in the work, set goals, and execute regardless of what others are doing around you. Someone else’s goals, plan or expectations should never limit what you do in life.
The best thing about running is that you hold the key to the outcome of achieving the objective. Don’t do something just to do something. Have a purpose and a reason why you decide to do what you do. So if a 5 hour marathon is your goal, then stop trying to compete with others whose plan is a 3 hour and 30 min Marathon finish. Whether you finish in 5 hours or 3 hours and 30 minutes, you’ll still get a medal at the finish line. Ultimately a 3 hour and 30 min marathon finish is achievable over time with the right plan, the right attitude, determination, commitment and the never give up mentality.