This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, but there is no additional cost for you. Please see my Disclosure page for more information.
A couple weeks ago I talked about doing hard things. Here’s the next installment of I Can Do Hard Things.
A week and a half ago I ran a 5k that started outside a quarry, ran down into the quarry, then ran (ok, I walked this part) back out of the quarry before finishing after running past piles of gravel, processing equipment, and really large trucks.
The last two 5ks I’ve run had difficult uphill stretches that totaled about a mile in each race. This 5k only had a half mile up hill stretch, but I feel like it was more difficult than the other two races. I blame the heat. Not that it was actually that hot where we parked our cars, it was only about 70*, but it was a lot hotter in the quarry. I think all that rock was soaking in and radiating the heat back at us.
Maybe the race felt more difficult since it was the third race in a row with massive hills. All those hills, on top of the higher mileage I’m running each week, are exhausting. But hills are a fact of life around here, so it’s good for me to face them head on rather than try to avoid them.
As I was running, I was thinking about why I was doing this particular race. It’s further from home than I usually go for a 5k, but I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to add a quarry 5k to my list of different races I’ve run for my 40 by 40 goal (I’ll be posting a list of those in July).
I knew it wouldn’t be an easy race (though the quarry wasn’t as deep as I was expecting), but I knew it would get me out of my comfort zone. One of the side goals of my 40 by 40 goal is to run a variety of race distances and locations. I wasn’t able to put in the training time or travel time for the various distances I’d originally pinpointed, but I have been able to run a lot of 5ks on a variety of surfaces, in a variety of locations. There’s nothing like facing the fear of the unknown (just how hard is this race going to be?) over and over to get you out of your comfort zone.
Running is a mental and physical game for me. I have to talk myself through the rough patches, but I also have to physically push through the pain that comes with running up hills or trying to achieve a speed goal. Being able to push myself physically is a blessing though, as I remember the days when just going to the grocery store was exhausting. I don’t take the ability to run, even if I’ll never be an elite runner, for granted.
At one point, going to the grocery store was hard. Thankfully, what’s hard for me has evolved as my health has improved. Now I can go to the grocery store and still have the energy to do a number of other things. I can run a race in the morning and work on our chicken coop in the afternoon. I can do a training run on the treadmill and then play with the kiddos. Instead of minimal effort while running, I can push myself to run faster or harder. Being tired isn’t the catastrophe that it used to be.
Have you seen your hard things become easier with time and practice?
