I'm sitting here this morning admittedly a little sore from the half-marathon yesterday and yet also euphoric. At the time, I have to admit I felt a little nervous ... After all, I had only done a modicum of the training and I wondered how I would do during the race - hopefully I'd finish! Standing with my colleagues Wendy and Gabby at the start, I was, I have to admit, filled with trepidation. (thanks, btw, to those of you who commented on my blog prior to the race!)
Despite the nerves, I set out to enjoy every minute of it - and I did! There is such a tremendous feeling of self-accomplishment in not only finishing the race in a decent time but enjoying it so much. Why did I ever think it was going to be a slog? In fact, there were LOL moments from the enthusiastic crowd who showed up along the race, despite the inclement weather; I was smiling at some of their antics...signs like "Chafe today; boast tomorrow!" brought a big smile to my face.
And I loved the runners - an older gentlemman wearing a "80-year-old grandad runner!" T-shirt as he chugged along or the guy who wore an "Older than Boston" T-shirt; and then the spectators: a jazz trio taking refuge in a lakefront gazebo; a little girl holding a rain-spattered "I love you Mom" sign; an older woman politely saying "Good Morning" to all the runners from her lawn chair and all the volunteers handing out Gatorade and water throughout the race.....
Later on, as my guy and I stood in line at the grocery store, a proud father was telling the clerk about how his son had actually raced that morning in the marathon and my fella said the same: she did it too, he said, pride evident in his voice.
How fantastic and how gratifying! Sore muscles, who cares?????
Question: What recently gave you a sense of self-accomplishment?