You want to know how I do it? I don't save anything for the swim back.*

I love basketball and frisbee because I don't think about anything else. I think about the sport and the rest of the world disappears (most times, but if I think about anything else I suck). I focus on the ball/frisbee, on stealing, blocking and winning.

I love running because I think about everything. It's like my mind just explodes into a million little pieces and I focus on everything and nothing all at once.

Saturday was a 4 mile day. Even when I was on long distance team on track I was running 2 maybe 3 miles at a time. I have run 10ks before so 4 miles really isn't anything, but I run better with 10ks because there is a crowd cheering on the 10-year-old running next to you. Sure, that 10-year-old is accomplishing something greater than you are by the sheer fact that they are nose to nose with you - a full grown adult...but that doesn't matter, if you close your eyes those cheers are for you.

Point being...Saturday I was solo. No crowds, no runners to compete keep up with...just my iPod, beautiful fall foliage, and my aching body. 4 miles - why is that thought so scary? Oh yeah, cause it's 4 miles! I started out the run too fast, like I do everyday and then I slowed down a bit. I kept telling myself that I really only had to run 2 miles. 2 miles out and then once I was there I would have no choice but to run 2 miles home...cause who gives up halfway? Well - a lot of people actually...but whatever.


Another mind trick I played on myself was to say, "You're really only adding half a mile..." Babies can run half of mile. For those who haven't caught on, I run half a mile further, which means I have half a mile more to run on the way back...so in the end, I've added a mile. I have to say, it worked. I ran the whole time, so now I feel no excuse for not running the entire 8k on November 13th. I just kept talking to myself while I was running.


Just two miles, you're almost there.


Half a mile more and you can turn around and go home.


You have less than a mile to the house.

The best part of running 4 miles Saturday? Monday's run of 3-miles felt like nothing, and I know that this afternoon's 4-mile run has been done before, I can do it again.


Sometimes I feel like my life is like a 4 mile day. I wake up in the morning and think, "How am I ever going to do that?" It's hard and it hurts...but from time to time I am just running, thinking, not feeling the aches and pains. I have to give myself pep talks about how I can make it through this day, if I can make it through this day then tomorrow will be easier. In the end I know I'm going to be stronger if I can just make it through what today has to offer me.

Sometimes we trip and we fall, our hands and knees get skinned and we just want to sit still and cry. But we have to get up, dust ourselves off and tell ourselves, "If I can make it through this, I can make it through anything."

I hope that everyone is having a good day and if you aren't, I hope you know it's just a tiny moment in your life, it will pass soon.