Blisters are not Bliss

Today - I could only manage about 10 minutes of walking because my sneakers rubbed so fiercely on my poor little 'piddies,' - I almost cried. I think I may need to talke the advice of a friend and go to a shoe store that can fit the perfect shoe to my not-so-perfect feet.

Last night I had Taekwondo, and was swapping running stores with a friend of mine. She was telling me how she went on a 5 mile run on Saturday morning, and a 4 mile run yesterday (at a 10-minute mile pace). She said to me, "Saturday was wonderful. My husband and I went on a run at a comfortable pace - about an 11-minute mile..." I must confess I was not only jealous, but began to beat myself up for not trying harder, and pushing myself more.

After class was over, we resumed our conversation about running - and shoes came up. She recommened a local store for quality, good fitting shoes. She told me that she had been running for over 3 years. I remembered my thoughts from before. I've been 'running' for 4 and a half months. In those 4.5 months, I've managed to find myself with an average running pace of between 14:10 and 14:40. Needless to say, I stopped being so hard on myself. :)

Am I where I want to be? Nope! Am I where I need to hope? Nope! Am I where I was? NOPE!!!!! I think sometimes (atleast for me) we look at the acheivements of others and say to ourselves, "I'll never be able to do that" or "I wish I could do that." Then we begin to beat ourselves up for the decisions we've made. Next thing ya know, we are so bruised, broken and blistered that we can barely put our shoes on to go for a walk. That just seems so counterproductive to me.

What would happen if we evaluated those poor choices, came up with solutions to fix them, gave ourselves an inspirational pep talk stating our goals, purposes and means to meet those goals - THEN laced up our sneakers and hit the road? I think we'd be able to walk/run longer, harder and/or faster than ever.

Right now, it's not about what I have done or not done, or even whether I can keep up with other people. It's about being a little more and a little better than the day before. If I think I cannot go any further...to find something within me to push just a few more feet - that, my friends, is the pinnacle of change.