Tuesday, June 8, 2010

my mountain

aaannnnnd......there is the alarm.

I HATE the alarm. I try as often as I can to avoid it....and when I can't, I usually hit snooze.

three times.

The house was so quiet.

Perfectly cool.

But I had to get up.

ugh.

Stretch out.
Get dressed.
Choke down as much Power Bar as I can before I start to gag up that good old fashioned peanut buttery cardboard taste.

The kids are up.

Breakfast.
Clothes.

Out the door.

On our way to Dana's, where friends and and a babysitter await our arrival.

The kids are dropped, Dana is with me, and we head to our Mountain.

Mountain with a capital "M", because we are talking one. big. mountain.

It's already hot.

I am so nervous. Sooooooooooooo. Nervous.

But here we are.

Only 4.6 miles and a 1600ft elevation increase to the top.....we can do this.

ha!

half mile in.

Can we?

The heat.

Salty sweat.

Why am I breathing so loud!?

I can't feel my legs.....and then I can,

and they hurt.

I think I'm going to throw up.

No really, where can I throw up.

Why am I doing this??

I can think of 1000 other things that I'd rather be doing.

So I named them--every single one.

And then I thought of how to get more comfortable.

Like slowing down.

Walking.

Turning around.

But I can't.

There is still road in front of me.

And it only get's steeper.

WHY???!!

I have learned over the past few years, that for the most part, my body likes to run. It loves it. Craves it. It can usually get out and run, and my mind doesn't have to do too much work.

But every now and then, there comes a point where my body thinks it might just turn off....the autopilot malfunctions, and it's up to my mind to take over and get me there.

To the top.

I will make it.

My mind has to actually tell my body to MOVE.

left, right, left.

To the top.

and.

we.

di-

-d

it.

We did it!!!

How??!!

We stop.
We celebrate.
We stretch.

And continue our (amazingly easy seeming) journey down the other side.

The taste of victory, fresh on our lips.

Or that may be salt, but either way.


*************

Our bodies are absolutely incredible little contraptions. Amazing! And they were built to do amazing things--do we let them?

I have been wanting to run my "Mountain" for years. Seriously talking about it for 8 months now.....it took Dana to look me in the eyes and set the date to get me to do it.

I was afraid.

To some this mountain would be nothing--there are marathoners and ultra marathoners who would laugh at the amount of worry I put in to this tiny hill.

But for me it was perfect. What I needed. What my body and mind needed.

Please push yourself! Find your own "Mountain". It may be a literal mountain, it may be a 5k, it might not be running at all--it might be a walk around the block or finding the time to stretch every single day.

But find some way to let your body live up to it's potential.

It was given to you to do amazing things--your mind just needs to convince it to do so.

Don't get too comfortable.

My amazingly talented yoga instructor and friend Abbey, always says "don't be afraid to feel something."

Let your mind take over,

left, right, left.

All the way to the top.

15 comments:

abi porter said...

love this! our bodies are amazing and i love the feeling of pushing them to their limits and thats why i love running.

cara lou said...

Wow. I am so impressed. Running up a mountain is terrifying to me. As is running my first 10K in October. But I'm going to do it. Eek!

Shelley Sage said...

this is exactly what I needed!! triathlons have always scared the heeby jeebies out of me....but i'm doing one in august! i've just barely started training, and i'm already trying to find ways to chicken out ;] thanks!

LobotoME said...

great post!!! congrats on rockin that mountain!

Hayley said...

my knees hurt jest thinking about it. i need to get back to yoga now!!

Anonymous said...

Love this post, Sheena. Thank you for sharing!

summer said...

woohoo!
i am such a crazy fan of this blog.
thank you, sheena! am going to push myself on the gravel roads today.

ps. that label you gave this is hilarious.

gram said...

Hooray!..for our girl!

Anna said...

Thanks for this inspiring post! That is quite an accomplishment, congrats!

Now I need to get outside and do that run I have been procrastinating all week. Thank you!

I'm a new reader and I love your blog- so filled with creativity and beauty. I love your writing.

Amie said...

Congrats! That's one heck of a mountain. My body is finally at that place where it doesn't hate running, and I'm actually looking forward to running. For those first two months of training I dreaded it, but now I've come to enjoy my time out and it's lovely to think of it as more of a release and some 'me time' than a chore. I'm pretty stoked about it!

Chrissy Jo said...

Can being pregnant with your 3rd count as "a mountain"? It's certainly been hard work on my body, and though I have relatively safe pregnancies (no full on bed-rest, just partial), I still feel like it is such a HUGE sacrifice and effort for my body... TOTALLY worth it in the end, but takes a lot of wrapping your mind around it. Does that make any sense?

I love this post. It inspires me to take up running again after baby #3 is out. The mileage of your run alone is inspiring to me, let alone the incline and altitude. Way to go!!

Ang said...

Great post, Sheena - it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who sometimes resorts to cheering myself on second by second, step by step. Congrats on conquering your mountain :)

melissa ellen parker said...

I'm proud of you!

I really love this post. Very inspiring.

Jill said...

totally agree that pushing yourself feels amazing!

this morning i ran SIX miles!

may not sound like much...but considering i normally run 2.5, i'm quite proud of myself.

and it felt SO good!

Kasey said...

You are amazing Sheena! Totally inspiring.