Perseverance

It's National Running Day! Do you participate? I like to think of this day as Running Awareness Day. Although if you know anything about runners, then you know that we make every day Running Awareness Day. As I tell people, don't ask me about my running, because I won't stop talking about it!

Did you know that besides being National Running Day, June 3 is also National Chocolate Macaroon Day and National Repeat Day. National Repeat Day? National Repeat Day?

Sorry. I couldn't help myself.

It seems that whenever there's a National Day of Something, and there are a lot of them, everyone wants to participate. Especially the good ones. Wouldn't it be great if everyone who started running on National Running Day actually stuck with it? Experts say it takes 6 weeks of participating in an activity to make it a habit. Running is hard, no doubt, but with motivation and a purpose, a lot of us persevere....

Why do you run? What do you run for? What makes you keep running, even when you don't want to go another step? How do you find the time in a busy day to go for a run? How do you push through a tough run in the heat and humidity? In the bitter cold? Do you run in the rain? What makes you train for a certain distance?

How do you do it? How do you persevere?

When you think of a runner, what traits come to mind? Determination? Grit? Dedication? Tenacity?

Perseverance is the trait of a person who continues on a course of action in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. I've written a lot about my biggest source of discouragement. Me. Yes, my biggest enemy is the voice in my head that tells me I can't. Over time, I've gotten so much better at pushing past that voice. Even when Becky isn't threatening me with burpees.

A little bit wet...

Here's the story of a little battle I won with myself last week, on a rainy morning before work:

This morning, I woke up, tired. I didn't want to run.

The voice in my head tried to get me to go back to sleep.

I got up anyways. Made my coffee.

Looked at the weather forecast. Saw the rain coming.

Got ready anyways. Headed out the door.

Tired legs, rain pouring down. Started the Garmin.

Ran down the road. One foot in front of the other. 

Reminded myself to take it easy. No goal, no time for this one. 

Just run.

Wanted to make a pit stop. Pushed on.

Finished up. Glad to be done. Glad to have gone.

No regrets.

Just as I persevere through those tough runs that I don't want to do, that ability to tough it out transfers to my life off the road as well.

After that run, I headed into work for a typical crazy Saturday morning. My schedule was jam-packed with patients. As happens sometimes when I'm facing a tough run, I felt a little bit overwhelmed as I approached the morning. And just as I pushed through today's run, I pushed through the morning, taking each visit one at a time, like I do with my miles. Just as I did with my run,  I gave my all to every patient I saw. Sometimes it would be easy to take a shortcut, to blow off a concern. But the runner in me, who gives her best on the road, gives her best at work too.

I wasn't always like this. In my pre-running days, I'd just call in sick when I didn't feel like going to work. I used to call them "mental health" days. I sure could have used one today. But I would have let a lot of people down. Most importantly, I would have let myself down. And so I went for my run. And then I went to work. I gave my all. I did my best. I left work, feeling satisfied that I did a good job.

Running makes me better at everything I do. Running makes me not give up, even though I might want to.

On the road and off.

We persevere.

How do you get yourself out the door when you don't feel like going for a run? What do you do when your mind is telling you to quit running? And has your strengths gained from running translated over to real life? And are you running for National Running Day?

I'm linking up with the awesome Wednesday Word link up on Deb Runs! Check out what everyone else says about Perseverance! 

Kristen at Jonesin' for a Run has a great linkup for National Running Day! Check it out for tons of inspiration!

 

Lisa at Running Out of Wine also is hosting a linkup for National Running Day! More posts to read for inspiration!

  I'm also linking up with the DC Trifecta: Courtney, Mar, and Cynthia on Friday! The topic is National Running Day!