Running is not my favorite activity. It never has been. I wasn’t what they call a natural runner; however, it’s rare for me to say ‘no’ to a challenge, so when my co-worker asked me “Do you want to run a half-marathon with me?” I replied yes without thinking twice about it!

The training began. We met every day at 5:00 AM and ran the streets, rain or shine we were running. There were days I hated it, there were days I tolerated it, and there were days I would ask myself ‘why am I doing this?’

The day before the race, I picked up my package in a rush from the expo center and was anxious to get the run over with. The race day arrived and although my coworker and I had this vision of passing the finish line together with our hands up in the air pointing to each other, we ended up finishing at very different times and struggling to find each other.  As I was running along the coast in Long Beach, I tried to enjoy the beauty. I tried to not think about the next 13 miles that I still had left and I tried desperately to stop calculating my pace. It got tough and I started wishing it was over already.  I saw strangers cheering me on, handing me water, and as I saw the finish line, I started sprinting as fast as I could. I could hear people shouting and screaming: ‘Finish Strong’, ‘You’ve got this’, ‘you go girl’ … then came that moment…  When I crossed the finish line and the gratification!

With a desire to feel that way again, I signed up for another half-marathon, this time I got my friends to sign up with me. It was different. I now knew without a doubt in my mind that mind controls body, that it’s all about pushing boundaries and trying things despite being uncomfortable.  This time, the streets and trails had become my friends. I started enjoying the journey. I felt like a street stroller and every now and then I would stop and take a picture.  With injuries and new struggles, it wasn’t always fun, but I learned to endure and enjoy the pain. I had learned how to enjoy the journey.

The energy at the expo before the race sucked me in so much so that not only did I sign up for another race, but also convinced my friends to sign up with me.  Running each race with more determination, self-awareness, and the goal of being better than myself at the last race. It felt good to run! It felt natural to run and I would identify myself as a ‘runner’ at times. 

I haven’t done a race nor have I had a desire to do so since Feb of 2014. I was at a running event this weekend, a friend mentioned how similar running is to life, and once again I was reminded of the journey I took with running. She is right. Life is very much so like running. When you start, waiting patiently and anxiously for the start bell, staring at the road in front of you, how well you do depends on how prepared you are, but regardless of your readiness, the road is there for you to step on and the finish line for you to pass. It gets tough along the way, but you push through, as is such in life, you don’t give up. You give it your best and finish. You set your own limits and boundaries and your only competition is you.  To get to that moment when you cross the finish line and absorb all the joy, you have to go through the struggles. Every run is different and so are the struggles along the way, but the key is learning how to enjoy the journey, acknowledging the struggles, the beauty in all of them, and the messages they have hidden in them.