SHOW UP,
FOLLOW THROUGH
Well, after what I thought was a reasonable night's sleep, Melissa drove us down to Gainesville's pretty Depot Park, located just a few blocks south of downtown. The sky was overcast, the temperature was a tolerable 63 degrees, but the humidity was very muggy at 99%. Before today's "race" started I told Melissa that I was going to try to walk the 4-lap, 3.-mile course as fast as I could. But once it was ongoing, it didn't take long for most of the Parkrun participants to walk easily ahead of me. Even the more casual runners seemed much more physically fit than me, so before long I had to reassess my goals for today, which came down to simply crossing the finish line. For a substantial portion of the fourth and final lap, I broke into a casual, light run That I did, with a personally timed finish of 54:26. Click HERE to view the posted results, which I think the timers and processors in good faith botched to my disadvantage. The New Year's Day morning Parkurn 5K will be a combination of Gainesville's two Parkruns. West End Community Park will host this one, temporarily skipping Depot Park for this special event. As for me, I am beyond being bound to a competitive spirit that involves me comparing myself to others...I no longer care. I just want become more fit, and I have the means to achieve much of this in the face of potentially distracting and debilitating complicated medical treatment for my stated bummer of a diagnosis. But today's Parkrun goes down as a personal success story because I showed up and followed through. This was my 99th Parkrun finish. To attain Parkun #100, my intention is to go with Melissa to walk their special New Year's Day Parkrun. For the precious two days I had been skipping exercise sessions, but this afternoon and early eveninI willed myself to "rock-run" up to a day's total of 12.5 virtual miles (added to the Parkrun distance) while following Peter's slow-but amazing exploits during the 2022 New York City Marathon. And now the living room gym is closed for the night as I allow myself to enter rest/sleep mode. With more activity anticipated for tomorrow, i quote Morgan Freeman from that recent pharmaceutical commercial,;"Time to get busy living"...
I am so proud of you!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sweetie, but not half as proud as I am of YOU!
ReplyDeleteAt my absolute best, my competitive ranking is always near or at the bottom of the list. In fact, I don't even say that I am 'competing' but instead I say I'm 'participating'. It used to really wear me down that no matter how much I tried or exercised I could never really compete. But then I started to realize that maybe I was comparing myself to the wrong group of people. That's when I started thinking about how many people weren't even in the race (or whatever it was I was involved with at the time). Now I spend my time hiking in the rainforest near where I live and even though it takes me a bit longer each year, I can still make it all the way without having to turn back. Show Up and Follow Through...that's the goal I set for myself and in achieving that I make myself proud. All the best to you and Melissa for the New Year we've just entered. May we all run our own races with pride.
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