Everything I needed to know about life I learned from Training

While running, Biking, and swimming I have plenty of time to think and learn. Here are a few of my epiphanies…

1. I am still afraid of the dark. Once I found myself running Nix Creek after the sun had gone down. I had planned on being home by that time, but for some reason I was still a few miles from the house. While I was running I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. I distinctly remember being in my grandparents house one night as a child and trying to make it from my bedroom to the bathroom in the hall in the pitch blackness of that house. I really had to pee but I was terrified. If someone on Nix Creek had said BOO I would have pissed all over my fancy running skirt and screamed like a little girl…

2. There is nothing you and the big man upstairs cannot take care of during a 7 hour bike ride and run. Those monks have the right idea. I have told people before that I ask God many questions while on long runs and rides. Sometimes I get an answer at mile 4. Sometimes I get an answer at mile 40, and sometimes I do not get an answer. When I do not get an answer, it means I didn’t need one, or that I wasn’t ready for the answer anyway.

3. Hotels have the best bathrooms. Seriously. They always have toilet paper and are clean. If you have ever traveled with small children and were worried they would catch Meningitis from a gas station restroom, remember this tip. And yes I will smooth rollup in there all stinky and sweaty and use the facilities, but I still think it is trashy to use the hotel pool if you are not staying there.

4. If something bothers you just a little bit in the beginning, it will drive you insane in the end. A sock bunched up the wrong way will slightly irritate you at mile 5. At mile 25 it will feel like torture. I know I have certain “traits” and “habits” that hubs used to think were cute and endearing when I was 20…..

5. When I run races I find people to beat. If I am running a 5K I find someone after the first mile and try to pass them by the next mile. I am like a lion. Not because I am king or anything, but because I pick out the old and sick…. I know my limits. I will not outrun the 22 year old that is built like a brick shit house. The 70 year old with a slight limp – I have a chance.

6.I train a lot. I exercise a lot. I put a ton of time and energy into this hobby of mine. When I actually run a race or do a triathlon, I rank somewhere close to the bottom of my age group. I could care less. I will never be the fastest. I will never compete in Boston or Kona. I will never run a large corporation, or make six figures a year. There will always be someone smarter, prettier, faster, and stronger. I compete with myself. I beat down my demons one step at a time, and push myself beyond what I thought was an obstacle in the past. "The highest form of competition is self-competition, and I was proving to be the cruelest of opponents, ruthlessly demanding more of myself, relentlessly doing battle with the road, with my own body, with my mind.

Pain was my weapon of choice." Dean Karnazes

7. Always pee before you leave the house.

8. I am making a generalization here and please don’t take it out of context. People in nice cars get pissed you are on their road and they have to wait sometimes to go around you. The less fortunate cheer you on. I have been flipped off by a person in a Lexus because I was in the road running, and no other reason. An Oldsmobile with the trunk tied down and black smoke rolling out the back once slowed down and gave me plenty of room. The lady on the passenger side hung out the window and screamed, “Get it Girl! I am PROUD OF YOU BABY!” I drive a nice car and so do most of the people I know. Once someone asked me if I was crazy for running in the “bad” part of town. The people in the “bad” part of town are my biggest supporters. They yell out and ask what mile I am on when I run by them. At one house there is a group that sits in chairs in the yard and say things like, “you got a good pace this morning” or “you need to pump it up a little, you dragging!” Never judge a book by its cover. In fact, there is no reason to judge people at all. Jesus has that under control. There is no reason for you to micromanage his job.

9. Speaking of Jesus, I have Come to Jesus Meetings on extremely long runs and rides. A Come to Jesus Meeting occurs when you have reached your physical and emotional limit, and you still have more miles to go. Every disappointment in your life creeps back up and your body is trying to tell you to quit. You have to tell yourself to keep going no matter what, and your mind has to be stronger than your body. Every person reaches highs and lows throughout life. When I run a half marathon I know when I have reached mile six because my body relaxes and the miles pass easier. Mile 11 is horrible. When I did 70 miles last week the highs and lows were the same, and the frequency of the lows came much faster in the end – along with the highs. A friend once sent me a quote one night when she knew I had a long run the next morning. “When you have reached your limit, dig down and ask yourself if you can give a little more. The answer is usually yes.” I had to repeat to myself over and over that I could give a little more. That quote doesn’t just work in running. It has served me well in more than just the relationship I have with the road. I learned that with every high, there will come a low. With every low, there will eventually be a high. I thrive in dragging myself from the low to the high.

10. Never look at your race picture. I do thrive in dragging myself from the low to the high, but I damn sure do not want a picture of it. Feel like you have an extra 10 pounds on you? Try having a picture taken of you with that 10 pounds flapping in the breeze and then put in on the internet. EVERYONE can see it. Even the limping grandma….

Thank you for reading my post. I hope this makes you feel a little bit better about yourself.