A Little Shaky: Part 2

One example of my journey being more valuable than the end result is my Senior year of cross-country at Graceland. During my Junior year I came to the end of my running rope while on holiday break. I simply couldn't train... physically, mentally, I was spent. So I decided to red-shirt my track seasons, rest and then train for my last XC season. During this time I took a few months off completely. Concentrating on re-charging and mentally preparing for my most ambitious training plan to that point in my running career. My goal was to be an All-American at the national meet. It began around March, much the same way as my current plan, and took me up to a point of running 90+ miles a week for most of the summer (about 9 consecutive weeks). It started slowly, feeling like the low mileage at the beginning was too easy... but it was part of a plan... a journey. Each step built on the last one, and all of a sudden I was in the best shape of my life. I was doing it. There were different struggles and adjustments that I had to make along the way, always leading to more knowledge about my running and myself. It took a great deal of commitment, discipline, and sacrifice to make it happen. However, towards the end of the summer I felt machine like, and I loved it! I finally was running to the potential that I knew was inside me. What an amazing feeling... to be doing something at your full potential. To lay out a plan and then execute that plan almost to the mile... felt great.

Then a hill workout, after a cross-country drive, and a little lacks on some of those details that I paid so much attention to... added up to a pull in my hamstring. Urgh! Two weeks before the season was supposed to start and all of a sudden I was limping around unable to get any of the strength out of my legs that I put so much effort into building up. Needless to say it was a rough season of ups and downs, trying to be patient, and ultimately being hugely frustrated by the fact that I couldn't use all that was stored up inside.

Was the "potential" what I did over the summer, or the getting that All-American plaque? Perhaps a bit of both. The point is that even though I could not use the training that I had put in over the summer to attain my goal... I ended up seeing that I learned so much along the way, and enjoyed the journey enough (just knowing that I was training at my potential) that the end goal became less important. Don't get me wrong... I would love to have that plaque, but I know in my heart that if a few things would have gone a different way... I could have done it. No one can ever take that away from me. I have called on that experience many times since then. When I think about what I am capable of, and what I need to do to get there... I often look to that journey. As now when I don't feel like I can dig myself out of the hole I am in... rest, make a plan, then execute that plan.