One of my loves in life besides music is exercise and movement. As a child I loved to run, jump, climb, play ball, dance and run. Boy do I love to run even though as time goes on I often power walk with running spurts in between. Running has been a form of therapy for me, balancing my physical body, clearing my mind and very fulfilling.
When I was in middle school, I was the fastest girl around. I mostly ran sprints in those days, but now I am more into marathons. I am not as fast as I used to be, but that’s OK, for life isn’t a sprint anyway. Success in life doesn’t go to those who are the fastest, but to those who can keep going for the long haul.
As I neared my fortieth birthday, I got interested in running a marathon. I knew I would need some kind of instruction, so I signed up with the Jeff Galloway marathon program and am really glad I did. In training to run long races, it’s very helpful to have others run with you and give you advice when you experience difficulties.
Jeff Galloway has a unique approach to running marathons. He advocates a strategy of running for five to eight minutes and then walking for one minute, until you’ve gone the entire 26.2 miles.
The strategy of taking regular walk breaks and water stops helps the runner pace themselces and avoid injuries. It also gives provides a mini rest break every five minutes or so. Surprisingly, those who take the mini rest breaks often end up outrunning those who don’t.
During my six-month training period, there were many times on the long runs when I felt like giving up, something that runners call “hitting the wall.” However, with Jeff Galloway’s program I was able to encourage myself with positive self-talk: Mary, all you need to do is run another five minutes, and then you will have a walk break.
This perspective was a huge help to me! I set an egg timer for five minutes and ran until it beeped. Then I set it for one minute and walked until it beeped again. This was a wonderful tool during the marathon. Instead of facing the overwhelming prospect of running the entire 26.2-mile race, I just had to focus on running another five minutes until my next break. That didn’t sound so hard! In fact, it was very doable.
I’m proud to tell you that I finished the full 26.2-miles of the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC, and this brought me a huge sense of achievement. And I accomplished this by simply running five minutes at a time.
Marathons are a parable of life. Those who pace themselves will succeed. We will all “hit the wall” at one time or another, but when our strength seems gone we can fix our eyes on our maker, who has run the race before us. And we can remind ourselves that this life will soon be over—and then we get a rest break!
What about you?
“One day at a time” is a favorite slogan of recovering addicts in 12-step programs. How might that be a useful motto in your own life as you learn to “pace the race”?
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