Today was week three on my journey to 26.2 for Grandma’s Marathon on June 16th! I am so excited and I’m learning so much about myself along the way. This whole week I discouraged myself for this run, I kept telling myself, “8 miles is a lot, I don’t think I can do it.” Then the forecast made me start breathing a little heavier and thinking maybe I’ll just run inside on a treadmill. (Something I said I would never do for a long run!) There’s something about being outside and feeling everything.
So, today I took the girls to the Children’s Museum, we had a blast, the wind was blowing, it was sunny one minute and gloomy the next. I sent Travis a text and said, “I hope these winds die down before I have to run later.” I looked at the weather and wrote back, “they’re going to die down two mph, maybe I should run 4 miles inside and 4 outside?” He said, “on a treadmill?” He knows that I’m not keen about running on a treadmill. I then responded back, “I can do this, if I start dying, I’ll call you to pick me up.” He responds with, “You got this babe!” And you know what? I did. I motivated myself, I got excited, I said, “you can do this!”
I left for my run, my pace was on point, on mile 4, I even hit a 7:56 pace, I was like, “this girl is on fire!” Now, let’s go to mile 6, I hit the shores of Lake Superior, with snow gusting across the bike path and major wind. I should of turned around at mile 4 and went back the way I came but I’m not a huge fan of turning around, I’m a huge “loop route” person. I had to stop by the Superior Dome on the bike path because there was so many drifts and ice, I had to turn around and take roads and finally I hit mile 8, but then I realized my run home was probably about two more miles. So, me being the determined person I am, I decided, “go for it, do it.” So I did, I got close to home and hit mile 10 and I was happy, I felt great, I was smiling, because I did it! I walked in the door and Travis, Mallorie and Makenzie were cheering. Travis said, “how do you feel?” I responded with, “I actually went 10 miles and I feel amazing!”
So long story short, there are moments in your journey when you don’t give it a chance before even trying it. I did that to myself this week, I gave up on myself before even trying. That’s probably why when I hit mile 4, I didn’t just turn around, it’s like I knew I was going to go longer and it ended up being the best thing for me. I feel accomplished and happy and so determined to finish 26.2 in June.
I hope all of you reading this, take something from it. There’s so much to be thankful for in life, be the best version of yourself, have balance in your life, set goals, and achieve them.
Xoxo,
Melodie 🙂
melodiealexander 