Failure but.....

This has been a hard week.
This has been a hard week professionally.
This has been a hard week in training for the ultra.
This has been a hard week.
And as a result, I have been physically, mentally and emotionally spent.

On my long run this week (15 miles), there was a point where I battled mentally to just quit it all and start something new. The feeling of failure came over me and I wrestled with these thoughts as I ran hills, battled the heat and eventually having to call my brother-in-law to pick me up because I couldn't push through any longer.

I sent my coach, Liza Howard, an email just feeling defeated. As a great coach, she was able to encourage me by pointing out what I accomplished, how this is a process and to embrace the journey. I was also reminded that at the beginning of this project, I was told it was not going to be easy.

This blog is called "Do the Hard Stuff". I've come to realize that I need to embrace the hard stuff and to keep going. My profession will not always be easy. My training will not always be easy. I will not always have easy weeks where it naturally comes to me but.... I can embrace it and keep focusing on getting better through it all.

As I shared this story with several people in the same professional field and those pounding the roads alongside me, I have been amazed by the stories of those who felt like they have failed but all of them have come back stronger to do bigger and better things. Their stories and their courage have inspired me to continue on to week 7 of Becoming Ultra.

If you have an experience where you felt like a failure and needed to keep going, please share the story below. It will encourage me and the rest of the readers.

Community

So... I have been traveling now for just over a month. I have attended camps and did some construction work in South Carolina. I've been trying to keep up with the miles on my training plan. Today is the first time that I struggled completing the miles.

I am feeling the tired legs and sore lungs. It is so hot that sometimes my shoes are still wet the next day. There have been many times on these runs where I thought about just sending a message to my trainer, quit the idea of becoming ultra and learn to like Cheetos. Yet I keep going. 

One of things that has really helped me to keep going is community. There is a local running group called the Yellow Donkeys. It has been great to lean on them, ask questions and even vent about training.

I love this quote from Hellen Keller: "Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much". I am grateful for the community of runners that I have encountered over these last few months of training and look forward to being spurred on by them over these next several months.

One more step. One more minute. One more mile.