Last summer I ran my first 5k race. As many of you know, the 5k distance is 3.1 miles and is pretty much a sprint. With each new experience, there is always apprehension for the unknown. For me, the unknown motivates me. I believe life is more fulfilling when we stand outside our comfort zones, challenges ourselves, and try new things.
3 Life Lessons I Learned Running a 5k (3.1 miles)
Life is like a race, whether it is finishing a day, a week, a month, a year, many years, or our life. There are many things we can learn from running a race. Below are three lessons I learned from running a 5k race, the sprint.
1. Run Your Race:
When I arrived at the starting area, I was excited and nervous for what lied ahead. I saw signs that said 5 minute milers, 6 minute milers, all the way up to 12 minute milers and even walkers. My first thought was to start with the 7 minute milers, but that thought was quickly ignored by the thought of being on the front line with the 5 minute milers, of course I have never run a 5 minute mile in my life, but that is where I ended up.
The gun went off and suddenly I was in a dead sprint trying to keep up with the 5 minute milers. That pace lasted about a block, when I knew I was not going to be able to keep that up and finish the race. So I quickly pulled back to a comfortable pace. In life it is important to run your race, not someone else's race. For us to succeed we must run the race we where meant to run. As we are patient and continue to learn we will run the race faster and faster each time.
2. Never Look Back:
Once I felt comfortable with my pace, I started to get a rhythm with each stride and breath. If I ever looked back at the racers behind me, I tended to lose my rhythm. This is just like life, we should not constantly be looking back on our life, but looking forward positively at each new day. What we will make of our lives will be attributed to the actions we make moving forward in our lives.
3. Dig Deep:
We have all heard the cliche, "When the going gets tough the tough get going." Their is something to be learned when the going is tough, how do we react, do we give up, retreat, or do we charge forward. The last mile of the race was all up hill. It almost seams like when we are almost at the goal, is when it is the toughest. As I made it up the hill and saw the finish line, I was filled with renewed energy. I started to pick up my stride and dug deep through the finish line.
Life is like a race, whether our goals are daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or lifetime we must dig deep, never look back, and run our race.
1 comment:
Well said, it is very much important that we run life at our own pace and focus on our goals on not what those around us are doing. The amazing thing about fitness is that you decide your own limit. I had older people passing me, comes to show that age doesn't mean as much as perseverance, training, and mental courage.
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