Do something...

Friday, June 4, 2010

I was speaking at a graduation ceremony and I wanted to leave them with one of my favorite quotes, so I hit them with “the problem with doing nothing is knowing when you’re finished – do something.”

Exercise is like that. You start doing nothing and before you know it, you don’t know how to stop. I was going to have trouble doing something on this day. I was packed and after picking up my fellow running fanatics - Kim, Jimmy, and Kim’s sister Marie, was cruising down I71 for Columbus and Jesse Owens Track Stadium. We were hoping to get there in time for the finals of the 4x800 meter race. It was going to be tight. We parked about a mile from the stadium…because it’s free…and started jogging to the stadium. We managed to arrive with ten minutes to spare.

“Can I count the run over here as my workout?” I asked.

“I’m going to,” Kim responded. She could only run 10 minutes at a time right now since she was recovering from an injury. We were fortunate enough to see a fabulous race with the boys team from Wadsworth setting a new state record in a time of 7:39 and some change.

We headed back north to Alum Creek State Park where we would camp for the evening. We stopped at Bob Evans at exit 131 for the traditional dinner the night before the state meet and by the time I consumed my strawberry, cream cheese filled crepes and they settled hard in my gut, I realized running that evening was a fantasy.

We pitched the tents in the fading light and built a camp fire for s’mores and running talk. Marie, a high school standout distance runner had had a disappointing Junior season and was lamenting the situation and wishing she could change history. I write off-season training programs for distance runners looking for an edge and work with them on goal setting and the positive mental imagery necessary to win at the state level.

“You can’t change history, Marie, but you can learn from it. You now know what doesn’t work. The big question is…are you ready to do everything it takes to win at this level?” I asked.

There is trepidation in this kind of commitment. She knew what I was talking about and what would be expected of her. She knew we would be inviting the pain of very difficult workouts (we call it ‘the beast’) into her life on a regular basis if she said ‘yes’ to my inquiry…which she did without hesitation.

There’s the same fear for me. I know I will have to let it all hang out for her, too. Running at this level is no part-time commitment and I will turn over every stone to make her the best she can be. I don’t want to let her down.

And it’s also that way with any fitness regimen. Fear of failure can keep us from starting. It had me for some time before this past February, but I’ve overcome that and continue to progress.

Do something…it’s way better than doing nothing.