Progress Isn’t Always Sexy
Recently I set out to run eleven miles. It was my longest distance yet. It started out like a typical run but around mile five a bone in my foot shifted causing me a lot of pain. With each step the pain increased and it wasn’t long before I was running with a limp.
When this happens, you start looking at the situation in terms of risk vs. reward. You try to figure out if hitting your goal today will hurt you so much that next time you’ll be sitting on the couch instead of running. Consistency is everything and it’s better to do less and be able to do it again in a couple days than go all out and be immobile for the next few weeks.
Experience taught me that this injury, worst case, would knock me out for a week. I knew my training and travel schedule and thought that I could handle a week off so I went for it. But man was it going to hurt.
My running partner is the best I could ask for. It’s a huge blessing that I get to run every mile with my amazing wife. But, even more, she knows me. She knows how I run, my posture, my attitude and my “hurt myself to get it done” determination. Knowing all that, she can monitor me.
Around mile eight she looked over to me and said “your posture looks really bad.” I hadn’t even realized it.
“It’s bad?” I asked.
“It’s absolutely ugly. Are you doing okay?”
At the time it didn’t matter. I was going to finish one legged and bleeding if I had to. I’m fine with ugly if ugly means finishing.
Later that day, as the ice pack burned my injured foot, I was reflecting over my accomplishment. Something hit me:
In the middle of my run things were sloppy, painful and ugly but there was never a time when I wasn’t still moving forward.
How does that apply to your life? Are there areas that may be ugly but you’re still moving forward?
Lesson One: Slow down but never stop
I refused to stop. I set out to run eleven miles and stopping wasn’t an option. But I did slow my pace to make things more manageable knowing that continuing, not speed, was the only way to get to the finish line. Slowing down is not failing. Stopping is. Keep chasing your goal.
Lesson Two: Know your finish line
Our “finish lines” may be too far away. My real finish line is actually the 26.2 mile marker in Central Park but on this particular day it was mile 11. Had I set out to run 26.2 miles I would have quit when my foot went out but 11 miles was doable to me.
Break your big picture in to manageable finishing lines that challenge you but don’t leave you too hopeless. Consider quarterly or monthly mile markers that you can focus on. Knowing when the pain will stop or when you can rest will keep you motivated through that rough patch.
Lesson Three: Ugly progress can still mean pretty success
I looked flat out ugly in the middle of my run but when I hit mile eleven my back was straight and I was smiling. You know why? I achieved my goal and crossed the finish line. Just because you’re in an ugly spot doesn’t mean you won’t cross your finish line in style.
I once heard Steven Furtick say “don’t compare your behind the scenes footage to others’ highlight reels.” The finish line always looks better than the work that got you there. Just because it’s hard in the middle doesn’t mean the end won’t be as sweet. Often, you’ll find, it’s even sweeter.
On our journey from start to success, in whatever we do, there is a period where we’re hurt, alone, frustrated and in pain. It may even look like we won’t finish. But please keep putting one foot in front of the other. Your posture may look like crap and your pace may slow a bit but keep putting one foot in front of the other.
The finish line is coming and it’s going to be awesome when you get there.
Photo by U.S. Army and Lululemon Athletica (Flikr Creative Commons)
