There’s a very catchy song called “How do you love” by Collective Soul. It came on my iPod when I was running a few nights back and it got me thinking. As Leo hasn’t done anything on running in a while, I thought I’d fill in.
I usually aim to run 3 miles in under 23 mins when I’m on the treadmill. I find it gets the heart rate going while not leaving me totally knackered for the rest of my posing around the gym workout.
But a few weeks back I got to 3 miles and though, why no carry on, just keep running, so I got to 4 miles and wasn’t anymore knackered than usual. So now I run 4 – 5 miles on the dreadmill.
I wonder what would happen if I just went for it one night. If I ran until my lungs burst, my legs burned and my knees were screaming out for me to stop? How far would I go then?
What would Seth, Mark or Fred do? Would they stop at 3, 4 miles or would they carry on until they couldn’t physically go any more?
There has to be a time when you decide to just go for it and there have to times when you get to where you wanted to and then re-evaluate. That’s where I’m at now, but I feel I’ll be going for it a lot more now that I’ve thought about it.
While pushing yourself requires a physical effort, you know you are really pushing your limits — and accomplishing something — when doubt, anxiety, etc., creep into your head. Then, you see how mentally tough you really are.
A couple jobs and many years ago, I came across the “Ten Commandments of Attitudes” from one of my wife’s friends. One that sticks out is:
“You seldom will experience regret for anything you’ve done; it’s what you don’t do that will torment you.”
Or, you could simply abid by Dori’s saying to Marlin: “Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Swimming. Swimming.”
– Mike