If someone had told me at the beginning of July that I would walk / jog 60 miles by the end of the month I would not have believed it. Well, here I am 60 miles later….
I joined a run/walk challenge for month of July, our goal was to complete 60 total miles by 7/31. On my fitness journey I have been able to build my strength, but my endurance has been lacking. People often assume that I am a good runner because I strength train, but the opposite is true. When it comes to running you need a lot of endurance. Here are some lessons I learned during this process and how it can be applied to life situations.
Go at your own pace: If there is something you want to do just start and build on that momentum. Take your time and you will achieve it. My first walk was brutal, I wanted to quit so bad, but I knew I couldn’t because that would not get me to my goal. I did a total of 2 miles. The next time I went for a walk I challenged myself to get to the Pharmacy down the road and I did, it was a total of 6 miles that day.
Put on your blinders: Do not pay attention to what other people are doing, keep your focus on you. While I was walking I saw people run past me and I was tempered to run but I knew my knees wasn’t setup for that…. lol
Set your goal: Set realistic and attainable goals, plan and work towards it. Start small and build on it. One of my goals was to jog 13.1 miles. I had been building up to this by walking 2,6 and 10 miles prior until I achieved the goal.
Take your time: I mean this literally, take your time and don’t be tempered to compare your progress to another person. Success means different things to different people. Don’t compare your chapter one to another’s chapter 15.
Consistency: Keep doing what is needed to get to your goal, every action matters. There is this popular saying “ you don’t have to be great to get started but you have to get started to be great” The only way you can get better at anything in life is to be consistent. My pace for my first jog was 21 mins per mile but at the end of the challenge it decreased to 17 minutes .
Endurance: When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. You will have obstacles on the road to achieve your goals, but you have to keep going. Remember to ask God for strength on the journey and He will give it to you. I would never forget the day I jogged 13.1 miles, the first 10 miles was good but the last 3 miles were the hardest I actually thought about quitting then I remembered that I was closer to completion than I would be if I stopped. I prayed to God for strength and I endured.
Enjoy the ride: Live in the moment, don’t be in a hurry to move to the next phase of your life that you forget to enjoy the current phase. The time I spent walking was amazing because I got to spend time with myself and I was able to pray and worship without any interruptions.
As this challenge comes to an end I had walked/jogged a total of 66 miles. Will I be doing this again? Maybe. Doing this challenge has showed me that I am capable of anything I set my mind on. What are you challenging yourself to do next Month?
Until next time, remember God is your strength!
Xx
So proud of you...
Thank you so much for sharing this. I needed this and I am not challenged to just go for it. Starting a goal, (especially fitness goals) is always tough but the reward at the finish line and the lessons along the way are so worth it.