Eagleman prep: RUNNING WITH JOY!

RUN WITH JOY and GRATITUDE!

The run.  The race comes to the run.  It is BRUTAL and beautiful and I am happy to be on feet and then my feet are on fire (along with the rest of my body!)….. I love it/hate it. (love because I keep coming back to it)!

I already wrote a bit on the run, and I’m writing more… and I will write more… I’m down to 5 days left until race day!  And SO excited, but need to get myself ready mentally for run.

I am always happy to get off of bike- just no more RISK of tire stuff happening/dangerous stuff.

ONTO feet.  Then within a matter of ¼ mile I’m like HOLY SH&T it is burning out here.  And I will try again this year to turn that into a love affair with the sun😊

I love heat and sun, BUT.. I am a human being and it obviously limits performance.  Your body quickly goes into survival mode and you aren’t really “running” like a real “run”… It is like you are surviving mile to mile. 

And for the first 5 miles of the course, I am going to literally just remind myself that I am running full of JOY.  I love running, I love the training for it, the work, the measured results, no equipment basically and just yourself out there.  Running makes me happy and this is a race that just celebrates all of that time that I’ve had to put in hours and hours of running.  I’ve held around 40 miles of running/week so far through the year, so that is nearing 500 miles of training that I’ve put in so far.  (I am doing totally rough math in my head- approximating because there have been some weeks lower due to other races/travel etc)..point being.  Work is done.  Totally am where I want to be.  I’m right there. So now, RUN WITH JOY.  I will be focused, but every step I want to have an element on my heart of joyfully living this dream of mine.  I wouldn’t do triathlons unless I loved them, and I do.  They fuel me and fire me up and inspire me and I truly love my training AND the racing. .  I am not saying when you see me out there I’m going to be out there on the course leaping and bounding with a smile!  DEFINITELY NOT.. but that inner joyfulness will be felt within my heart.  IN FACT, although these first 5 miles are going to be JOYFUL, they will be MIXED with (as I said before), an element of NON-EMOTION.  I plan to very much remain poker faced and focused on not feeling too much, just an overwhelming STEADINESS. (so to sum that up:  joy/non-emotion/steady).

I’m going to turn into the next phase 5-10 miles filled with PURE GRATITUDE.. BECAUSE I AM.

I’m seriously entirely grateful to be out there and capable of doing this.  Particularly this year, I am almost amazed that I can.  My back has been a bear to fix this year.  It went out last November and even this year in March, I was having trouble sitting and standing.  (although yes, I could actually RUN easier than I could sit or stand)….  I am so grateful because I have never experienced physical pain to that degree before.  (we won’t go into emotional pain…. Been there…) But the searing NERVE PAIN was really getting to the point of messing with my head and really making me quite irritable and unhappy overall.  I’m so thankful to feel better and be more comfortable.  AND ABLE TO CHASE MY GOALS!  I’m just thrilled and honored to set these goals and work towards them.  I truly, to every cell in my being, am grateful for my health and body.  I am so fully aware of not taking this for granted.

I’m not saying miles 5-10 are going to be peace mixed with some sort of Buddha gratitude.  I am sure there will be none of that written on my face!  HOWEVER, I will be aware through the pain that I expect to push through, that the gratitude is what I will be aware of in my heart.

Miles 10-13.1---- GO DIG DEEP.  GET IT DONE.  With joy and gratitude, but… whatever.. let in a lil bit of fight/fierce/run wit your arms/keep cadence because once it is gone it is GONE.  Don’t let it go.  You will recover.