As I completed my 34th and 35th states, and my 30th marathon in the past 4 ½ years, I thought of the Van Morrison song, “Days Like This”.
In Fargo North Dakota, my 34th state, I limped to the start line because of an IT Band issue that had been irritating me ever since my April 18th Newport race. Every training run leading up to Fargo was painful for at least the first 3 miles, so consequently I spent less time racking up the miles and more time strength training. In fact, I only logged 56 miles prior to race day, so it was not a surprise that I had one of my slowest finishing times – BUT I FINISHED!
In Missoula Montana, just 4 weeks later, I arrived at the start line feeling fresh, pain free, but again I only logged 5 runs and 40 miles prior to race day. I was faster than Fargo but still slower than I had hoped – BUT I FINISHED!
In this journey to 50 marathons in all 50 states by the time I turn 50, I know “there’ll be ‘races’, ‘training blocks’, ‘injuries’, days like this”. The beauty of this journey is that I get to make it my own and so do YOU! We pivot, we adjust, we tweak, we try new things, we rest, we listen to our bodies, we strengthen our minds and we CHOOSE STRONG! We don’t give up! As the great Jimmy Valvano so inspirationally said during his famous ESPY speech and is the motto of his foundation, “Don’t give up. Don’t EVER give up!”
Now I’m on to preparing for state #36 (South Dakota) and I look forward to the process I’ll undertake over the next few months to get to that start line feeling the best I can THAT day. Who knows what that day will bring but I’ll take pride and confidence in the fact that I just completed two more marathons in less than ideal, physical shape. AND I’ll know that I have a few more mental strengths wins to draw from when “Days Like This” occur again!