Stay strong and push your limits

February has been a fabulous month with some tough training in it…

I have a quite pragmatic approach to my commitments. Some like to call it stubbornness, I prefer to call it determination. Now that I found my ultra distance coach, I feel much more compelled to train according to plan, rather than running only when the feeling is right. Looking at how the month has passed and to the pure numbers, I’m impressed with the amount of effort that has been put into it.

Let’s face it: I’m an amateur! Compared with professional athletes, these figures barely scratch the surface. To me however, they present an insurmountable achievement.

Here is the monthly outlook:

  • Distance ran: 263 Kms
  • Positive elevation ran: 6.485 meters
  • Cumulative elevation gain: 12.527 meters
  • Kilometers cycled in commute: ~ 80 Kms
  • Overall time invested: nearly 33 hours

The complete training experience had its natural ups and downs. Shall we start by the lows and finish in a positive tone?

I’m confident you’ve been in situations where you question yourself and the objectives you’ve set. Well… I was there a few times this past February. What is the reason we always ambition more? Do we understand the impacts of the goals we set on ourselves? Why are there days where it just… doesn’t… feel… like it? Why do we have to wake up at inconvenient times on Sunday, when it would be so comfortable to stay put in dreamland, bathed by a warm bed? Why do we push it to a limit where the experience touches the threshold between fun and pain? Do we really want to visit the grind? What is the meaning of it?

Why… why… why… all these questions popping in our minds, voices of uncertainty and self doubt, an inner challenge often difficult to put aside…

As Neale Donald Walsch has eloquently put it: life begins where your comfort zone ends!

I look at the numbers above again and the first reaction is: wow! I imagined I’d be able to pull it off, but between imagination and doing it, there is a big gap. The feeling of actually having done it… wow! Personally does feel like a superb achievement! 🙂

We push ourselves beyond our own boundaries in order to prove that we can do it. To grow, to build confidence that no change is beyond our reach, to breed our self-esteem and put a big smile in our face when, looking back, we have that wow moment. It is beyond our limits that life begins and that we truly start embracing a broader value to the privilege that is living.

You get to see a new sky in the twilight, a feeling of bliss in the profound silence of pure nature below the stars. You get to enjoy some time with the most precious person in the world. That’s right, that’s you! You! Your fears, your thoughts, your ambitions and dreams. You get to live precious moments with your family and friends, the ones that truly love you, that are always there to support your endeavours. You get to feel the void in those long sessions where you are one with the world. To see precious gazelles crossing the path in front of you in a sight you’d never imagine possible in your lifetime. Or any other uncommonly extraordinary animal for that matter. The sheer pleasure of the breeze running through your face. The green fields. The sun. The snow. The mountain. All of it…! All of life…!

Whatever the sport or whatever you’re pushing for, I’m confident you can pull off a multitude of experiences you’ve had, that just made it all worth it.

Stay strong and push your limits!

When life strikes you with all its glory, you’ll know… you’ll know…

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