Did you ever have one of those moments where you knew that you were exactly where you were supposed to be?  When the cosmos lined up and something just stopped you and whispered in your ear that right here and now was your moment?  Or you instinctively knew deep down that you were where your fate wanted you and with the people the fate wanted you to be with?

 I’m get that gift every time I go running.  Whether I am on a solo run, doing a training run with friends or running in a race that I will never win.  I just know that I am where fate, karma, God, the universe or whatever you believe in, wants me. 

There are times when it feels like the universe is channeling all its energy down to me and it funnels through my soul, driving me on.  I can feel the energy circling me, pushing me and occasionally pulling me.   At times it feels like I’m not even running, rather that I am standing still and my legs are pushing the world behind me.  

Nothing else exists at that moment; just that moment.  There are no deadlines, no work worries, just putting one foot in front of the other as fast and as efficiently as I can.  With all that has been written about running, it all boils down to that: how fast can you put one foot down and pick it up.

                 

Running is the one thing that I do that I can call totally mine.  I don’t have to depend on others to help me make it happen; it is nice to have people around to encourage and help me but, ultimately it’s all on me.  A bad run is mine, as is a good one.  I have no one to blame for anything, other than myself.  That is kind of appealing to me.  When I go out for a run, that thought is what drives me.  Along with the fact that I am doing what it takes to finish strong when others won’t even make an effort to start.

                

Don’t misunderstand me, there are days that I lack motivation.  Days that I want to sit in my recliner and do a different kind of marathon, one involving my remote and my Netflix account.  Somehow I manage to push through those moments of weakness and go anyway, knowing that there will be a small payoff when I’m out there running and a bigger one when I cross the finish line of whatever race I am training for. 

                

We all have those weak moments.  The trick is to learn to deal with them.  Occasionally taking a day off is not going to kill you or your progress; it’s when you make a habit of giving in to your weakness that it becomes a problem.  Giving in at that weak moment repeatedly forms habits.  These habits become lifestyles.    Why would you want to fall back into that lifestyle after working so hard to create a better one?