In addition to my marathon training, my children have been running me to and fro for the past month with end of the school-year activities. Got miles? Oh, yeah! Miles to the mall, miles to the hairdresser, miles to the nail shop, miles back and forth to their schools.....before I tire myself out again, let me tell you where I'm going with this. My daughter, Jordyn, is valedictorian of her 8th grade class. I know this has absolutely nothing to do with running, but I am so proud of her that I wanted to tell all of my friends, family, partners, and members of my running community.
I hope you know by now that I can weave a running lesson into just about any story. So here's what I learned from my daughter's valedictorian speech. Jordyn shared in her speech how she dreamt for several years about being the valedictorian of her graduating class, but most importantly how she purposed in her mind to do whatever it took to make her dream a reality. Her approach was to strive for all A's in her classes. She may have fallen short a time or two but she never, ever lost sight of her dream.
I, too, have a dream. Actually it's more of a goal than a dream, but for the stories sake, I'll call it a dream. My goal is to run my marathons in less than 5 hours. A sub 5-hour marathon gives me more time to finish and make it back to my hotel room to shower before I jump on the plane home. I've also learned that while I am a social running (gabbing all the way), my feet are not so happy after 5 hours! When I ran in the Grandma marathon in Duluth, Minnesota this past weekend, my goal was to finish in less than 5 hours. I would have been happy with 4 hours and 59 minutes! I didn't run a sub-5 marathon, but I got closer than ever before and set a new PR of 5:08!
So the lesson learned is one you've probably heard many times before -- "Shoot for the moon, and even if you don't reach it you'll fall among the stars!" Like Jordyn, I'm not giving up until I make my dream a reality. Just as she confessed that she would have the highest grade point average in her graduating class, I can guarantee you, I WILL run a sub-5 marathon this year!
Until I run again, keep dreaming and make it a great day!
Happy Feet
