Pressing On

Yesterday, I reached the 13 mile mark in my training for the marathon. This is an important milestone because it marks the half-way point. However, this year, I find this point particularly meaningful. Last year, I trained for and ran in the Sunburst half-marathon. However, I experienced some pretty painful shin splits for several weeks as the date of the half-marathon approached. At the time, I wrote, "But stepping out of the box can be risky. Actually, stepping out of the box is risky and opens up the door to failure, to pain." However, things get kind of boring without risks, without change. Last year, I set a goal to run a full marathon this year - before my 30th birthday. At the 13-mile point in training, I am shin split free so this in itself the most notable improvement over last year. With this improvement has come some new insights.

First, it really is important to set long-term goals and plan accordingly. This is very difficult for me because I like to be able to complete a short project and move onto something else. That is why the school environment worked so great for me. A new project or paper was always on the horizon. Each semester brought all new classes. However, a longer term perspective is important, too. Where am I going? From where have I come?

Second, rest is extremely important. The training schedule that I am using recommends rests on Monday and Friday. This is difficult. It is difficult to just rest. Yet, without this rest, injury is much more likely as I learned last year. The rest also provides a chance to regroup and regain some energy. Rest also been very difficult for me and I struggle with it all the time - just being able to sit back and relax.

So for this story and chapters to come, I am thankful.