Photo courtesy (clockwise from left) MeeusRunClub, Tamara van der Leij
& screenshot of a local tv vid clip (see from 1:46 :) )
Below is something I wrote last Monday, originally shared
My Post 32K Thoughts:
Chatting with eldest daughter, who commented on my current personal FB profile pic with, "Beautiful Mom! And oh, it looks like - because of my hand/fingers! - your'e a character from Hunger Games volunteering as a tribute!"
I let out a laugh and replied, "I wished I said: may the odds be ever in your favor!" the moment it was taken. :D
Love the post runner's high. Specially with the thought that I am closing the Road to Rotterdam Marathon adventure in a positive note.
Positive ending was unexpected because the choices I made are not the usual I choose. I took a new risk and I felt rewarded.
The past four months were a lot of confrontation with myself: why I am running, and what it's role in my life in connection to how it affects the lives of those around me, when I work on a particular goal.
Most of the time you take a road with the expectation of reaching a particular destination, and then you get surprised by many detours.
The detours, or the choices and decisions you make when you stand before those detours are in fact what makes you discover, how creative you can be, what you are capable of, and what your character is made of.
You also realize the values that is most important to you.
No matter how a marathon story ends, you'll always come out changed, when you take the first step towards beginning one.
I've said this many times before: marathons, the idea behind it, the preparation one needs to be prepared for it, the actual day, motivates me to participate more passionately in life. I would not say it is the answer to mental health problems but for me personally it helps me - it pulls me out when I sink inside myself, and take me outdoors where I can breathe better and in the process connect not only with nature but with people.
Marathons asks a lot of personal sacrifices. I was confronted more with this fact than in previous marathons. This helped me do what I could not do before consistently: simplify.
As challenging and hard mentally and physically to start, when you know you won't be on time to finish and will have to step out ( in my case at kilometer 32), I felt very satisfied with all the decisions I have made.
What more, I gained a lot of confidence back, which I have lost in the past years because of personal circumstances.
The most surprising and fulfilling moment of this marathon story is feeling accomplished even if I did not see the finish line, and nor the medal to symbolize it.
When the time comes that I am strong enough to reach the finish line of Rotterdam, the medal will not be a symbol for my strength but for me not ever giving up hope, and believing one lives well, when you do not stop to strive & participate in life with passion.
It does not have to be a marathon for everyone but what ever makes you feel alive, something you can share with others, that it may enrich their lives positively, too. Something that makes others better because of how you strive to make yourself be a better person.
All my previous blogs related to Marathon Rotterdam Training :
Dealing with Unfinished (Running) Business, and Recycling Goals
March Onwards to #MR15
Marathon Training in My Mind: My 25Ks & Entering the 30Ks Zone
Easy Sunday Come Back Run
The Road to Rotterdam 2015: Update!
Monday Marathon Training Recap: #MR15Reloaded
#HFNLRunDiary2015: Friday Night Run
I think you did awesome the minute you started putting one foot in front of the other. A lot of people would have given in to fear and not even tried. Hopefully you can be a source of inspiration for them as well.
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