Just Maybe

Possibility, possibilities... came surging through my mind today during a 7 mile tempo run. Why on earth did I feel so good? 3 days after 21 miles I feel fatigue but it was if my legs could suddenly handle a new level of pain.

Just maybe, I thought, just maybe all of this running focus.... all of this non resting..... all of this run 6 miles before a race and then 8 miles afterwards..... just maybe it was all beginning to actually absorb. To take hold. To begin to shine through.

The runs in the cold. The bike sessions in the garage.... all of those lonely hours and lonely miles. Just maybe this is the beginning of the pinnacle.

Today I believed. Today I believed that if the weather holds and I hit my pacing goals.... and all of my previous nutrition debacles have given birth to the right day at the right time..... just maybe.

The line between too much and just enough has been a fine one. The mistakes are more numerous than the victories. The pain greater than the pleasure. But then again there is pleasure within the pain.

Because doing the work is only half the battle. Balancing the work is another small fraction. Looking at yourself in the mirror every single day, the good parts as well as the bad parts of you... that's what it truly takes.

The Ironman takes no prisoners. It's like a giant mirror that will reflect every bit and piece of you. So you'd better be comfortable with what you see. You don't have to love it, you don't have to hate it, you just have to be comfortable with it. All gets revealed on Ironman day.

You will walk through the fire, you will get burned (in a positive way) and you will walk through that finish line a different person than you were at the starting line. You won't be a brand new person. You'll be a deeper person. A more patient person.

And you'll be someone with a massive threshold for pain.

Thanks for stopping by,

:-) mary eggers