I have always viewed my marathons as both a physical and spiritual event. In 2004, I wrote an amazing race plan and described the marathon as “It’s a joint effort of spirit and body.” To this day, I still believe that to be true.
So much can happen between the time one decides to run a marathon and toeing the line. Even as late as race day, life can throw curve balls such as loved ones having major heart surgery, race day weather worthy of a black flag warning, injury, or race officials canceling the race before you’ve crossed the finish line.
We all know that the hard work we do in our training phase helps to set the stage for a successful race. Still, there are never any guarantees that the stars will align in the most perfect way. Even wishing upon a falling star is a long shot. The act of belief, however, is critical to race day success. It is the reason why we log those twenty-something mile runs in the weeks leading up to race day. We need to believe that we can so that we will. In essence, we need to own it.
In this past week, I’ve been slapped across the face with issues of not owning my race experience fully. The fall that had me worried I’d fractured my elbow, and the meeting that has now stole away part of race day weekend are perfect examples of how easy it might be to allow external forces to interfere with my goal. I cannot let that happen; I’ve worked too hard.