A few days ago I started a series called ‘Leaving my Comfort Zone‘ that I’ll be adding to about once per week. I have always heard amazing people and entrepreneurs talk about growth, and they never seem to mention being comfortable. They always use words like, “terrified” or “nervous” or “unsure” when describing pivotal moments. I want to share these experiences with you so we can all learn from them.
The Back-story
In Spring I decided I wanted to knock something off my bucket list this year. I had been running much more frequently and began to see that I loved it. I was already good at it, or so I thought, I was running 15 +/- miles/week at that point. And it had been a while since I challenged myself physically. Shortly after, I signed up for the Kiawah Island Marathon and began to train. Here are the 6 Lessons I Learned from Running a Marathon.
(1) Pivotal Moments Can Make Us (or break us)
Once I signed up, I began to run one long run per week to prepare… Until I pushed it too hard. My IT band didn’t want me to run this marathon. Now I couldn’t even run 3 miles without wincing in pain. How was I going to make it 26.2???
Should I quit or should I push on? If I quit, nobody would blame me, it’s a difficult feat that only 0.5% of Americans have completed. But I wasn’t going to let myself off the hook that easy. I have had this on my bucket list and I want to do this before I die. I was pushing on, it was decided.
Fortunately for me, my brother is an athletic trainer and I had a specific therapy regimen to follow within days of my injury. Had I not resolved to do it, I never would have called him. Jim Rohn said, “If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”
(2) My Hobby Became a Job
When I first started, I loved to run. It was stress-relieving, it was fun, it was a great workout, and I used the time to listen to audio books. But after the injury I started a strict training schedule that required me to run 4 days per week. Due to my injury I needed a good 20 minute warm-up and I needed at least 45 minutes to cool down properly, and that was just on running days. I needed to do additional exercises 3 times per week, I needed to ice myself down in certain places up to 4 times per day, and I was to take ibuprofen like it was candy.
I was spending upwards of 15 hours each week on this ‘hobby.’ I was sick of training after only a couple weeks in! I found out how committed I was when the reality of how much time and effort required became apparent. I had to sacrifice comfort, sleep, time, tasty foods, and social commitments to ensure that I could finish this race. This was not meant to take over my life, but that’s what I knew I needed to do to finish the race. Had I not been committed to this, I would have flaked out and been content with not giving it my best effort.
(3) Haters come from Everywhere
Whenever we put ourselves out there and announce our goals, we set ourselves up for criticism. People will question our motives, they will question our abilities, they will even question our sanity. But when we know we want something, nobody’s words are going to stop us. Here are some things I heard while training:
- “Why?”
- “It’s how long? Is that physically possible?”
- “Are you running for a cause or something?”
- “Are you sure? Why?”
- “That sounds terrible”
- “I don’t get it”
- “Why are you doing this again?”
Very rarely did I hear, “That’s awesome! Good luck!” or anything similar to that. It’s not that people truly want us to fail, but when we put ourselves out there it makes others realize what they’re not doing in their lives for personal growth. They don’t mean to drag us down, but that’s what they’re attempting.
When we go against the grain, it scares people. Don’t let their fear of being different stop you from doing something your heart and mind are set on. Let them stay in line, let them be content, let them say what they want, but don’t let them stop you from accomplishing your goals.
(4) Nerves are Good
My brother arrived the day before the race and from the minute he saw me, he knew something was wrong. I had been getting slightly sick, I hadn’t slept well, and my legs were tired. I was so nervous I could barely sleep the night before the race. What if I didn’t finish? What if my knee didn’t hold up? Had I trained hard enough? What if I get really sick tomorrow?
I questioned myself because I was nervous, that was a good thing. I knew I had trained hard enough, I knew my body could handle this, I knew why I was doing this. I was leaving my comfort zone and headed into uncharted territory, I was pushing myself to a place I’d never been.
(5) Challenges Multiply When we’re Close
Right before the gun, during the national anthem, I realized that the hard part was out of the way and all I had to do was run. This is why I started this. It was time to check this box and cross this off the bucket list!
After a while my legs seemed weak, or maybe that was in my head, I’m still not sure to this day. And then I had to pee. And then my knee brace popped off. It was only mile 6… I had 20+ miles to run and I was a wreck!
But I reminded myself why I was there, how much I’d put into this, and resolved to finish this race come hell or high water. I was back on track. Then I hit ‘The Wall’ at mile 17. Side cramps, throbbing in my knees, dry mouth. My body was trying to tell me how stupid I was. I had to slow down and walk more times in that 2 mile span that I did for the entire previous portion of the race.
After mile 20 it was all mental. I turned off my iPod and just focused. Everything hurt, but I was determined to finish, I was not going to be beat.
(6) We Can Amaze Ourselves
After I finished I could barely stand, but the pain was good. Lots of people are capable of doing great things, but few people actually do them. I felt accomplished when I finished, and nobody can take that away from me.
The best part is now I have grown my comfort zone. I know that I’m capable of doing this and I know how high I have to set the bar next time I want to push myself.
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What are you doing to get out of your comfort zone? Leave me a comment or connect with me on Twitter, I’d love to hear your thoughts on personal growth!
P.S. 9 Days till Christmas!
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Race Results
- Time – 4 Hours 7 Minutes 40 Seconds
- Pace – 9:23 average mile
- Results – 15th place in my age group & 348th place overall
- More details here
