This was truly relevant for me as I had just come off the toughest training week of my schedule where I logged a total of 64km by ending the week with a 32km long run on Sunday. I turned the page of my journal and read the quote and made the decision to change my thoughts. I made the shift from "man, am I tired and I really don't want to run anywhere this week", to "OK, that's done and I made it through. This week will be easy!"
You may think that I am crazy, (or you may already be convinced that I am!), but these mind shifts are all part of the arsenal of talents that we need to get through difficult times, or physical challenges, or athletic events. As parents in the wee hours of the morning when we have been rocking and cuddling a sick child for what seems like hours we have shifted from ... "won't this child ever go to sleep!" to "one day I'll look back on this and miss it". As grieving family members we have moved from "I don't know what I'll do without her" to "I can still feel her smile!" As endurance athletes we move from "this has got to be the dumbest thing I have ever done in my life!" to "I can soooo do this!"
On Sunday March 28th I ran the Around the Bay 30km road race in Hamilton, Ontario. This race starts off just outside of Copps Coliseum in downtown Hamilton and circles the Hamilton Harbour and the Burlington Bay and ends with the finish line inside the Coliseum. This race is the oldest road race in North America and has been run on the last weekend of March every year since 1894! The first half of the race is quite flat, but as the course rounds the eastern end of the harbour and swings into Burlington a series of rolling hills start to taunt your resolve and break down your well made plans. The final hill is the true heart breaker and sits at a spot on the course a mere 3.5 or so km from the finish. The hill is only 400m long but as it snakes up the steep wall of the ravine you can't see the top until you are within 20m of the end.
When I hit the bottom of this hill in 2009 I slowed my pace, shortened my stride and started to run up the hill. As I passed a man on my right he called out to me, "you don't have to run this one you know. This is The Hill!" My response was to reply, "hill, what hill?" I kept on running, rounded the last curve and crested the top, gasping and sputtering, but I had bagged The Hill, and I felt great!
Shifting to the 2010 version of the race and as I hit the bottom of that same hill one year later I glanced up and was immediately struck by the line of exhausted, beaten and oh so very silent runners who were all trudging up the hill in front of me. No one was running. No one was talking. All you could hear was the beleaguered breathing and the heavy footsteps. I felt like all the air was being sucked out of me and I stopped running and started to walk along with the others. I felt so tired and so demoralized that I couldn't run. I fought with myself as I walked up that hill. I raged at myself for not running; for giving up so easily.
As I neared the crest of the hill I looked up into the face of a spectator and her look of pity and concern for us all was enough to switch the gears again. I changed my thoughts, ran the last stretch of the hill, rounded the corner and started down the home stretch back into downtown Hamilton. I felt strong and confident again and I finished the run with a smile on my face.
So when you face a hurdle this week, give it a shot ... "Change your thoughts and you change your world", Norman Vincent Peale.
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