Week 10 – Marathon Musings: Be Proud of Yourself
2023 London Marathon. Ugly-crying here because I knew that once I saw Big Ben I was 2 miles away from the finish line. The pride I felt at knowing I was going to finish this race was beautifully overwhelming.
Be proud of yourself. No one knows the journey you’ve been on to become a marathoner.
Be proud of yourself. No one understands the sacrifices you’ve made to get here.
Be proud of yourself. The choice to show up is a hard one and you’ve done it time and time again.
Be proud of yourself. Your belief in your ability to do hard things is inspiring.
Be proud of yourself. You’ve fought demons when things have been challenging and you’ve learned how to keep going.
Be proud of yourself. Running a marathon is something few people choose to do and here you are choosing to do it.
Be proud of yourself. Each run – even the bad ones – has been a lesson in trusting yourself and the process.
Be proud of yourself. Even when you are running with others, running is still a solo sport full of self-negotiations about moving forward and not giving up.
Be proud of yourself. You are more than a pace. You are the effort you put into each workout. You are the commitment to the plan. You are the dedication to learning how to feel your best as an athlete.
Be proud of yourself. At the end of the day, it’s been you putting the time in and doing the work. No one can take that away from you ever.
It’s easy to see training as something that needs to get checked off a list. It’s easy to beat yourself up when things don’t go to plan or as expected. It’s easy to feel hopeless when you don’t see the improvement you want to see. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with everything you need to do to get to that start line injury-free. So much easy in all the hardness of marathon training and it’s easy to be surprised by all the emotions that come up over the course of a 16-24 week training cycle.
In all this “easy” though, remember to be proud of yourself for making the choice to try and for making the choice to keep trying. Each moment, from the most mundane (like warming up before a run) to the most grand (like completing that 20-miler) deserves to be celebrated because you deserve to be celebrated.
Marathon training will change you. Let it. Savor the change. Stay open. Stay curious. Be in celebration of who you are. Be in awe of who you are becoming. Be proud always.
Marathon History:
2014 Chicago Marathon
2015 Miami Marathon
2015 Berlin Marathon
2015 Chicago Marathon
2016 Chicago Marathon
2016 NYC Marathon
2017 Chicago Marathon
2018 Chicago Marathon
2021 Chicago Marathon
2023 London Marathon
2023 Marine Corps Marathon
Marathon Musings series:
7 weeks until Chicago and 10 weeks of musings written. Here’s to being proud every step of the way.
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