Runningsmile

Just put my name in for the St. George Marathon this morning. As I listen to conference, I'm already thinking about self-improvement. So this fits. Let me tell you first and foremost I am not a runner. I've never been. I run a lot though. I feel like the things that push us the most are the things we should strive for. If it's easy its not worth it - vice versa - if it's worth it, it's gonna be fierce. Fierceness is what will get us through the race but it's more than that. When I run I think smile. Not miles. Switch the s. The mechanics of the running provide us an opportunity to think. Get in your head. You can do one of two things. You can think about the 6 in. in before your front foot. Or you can think smile. You can look at a the stoplight, the hill, the turn maybe even the next runner (for the kill) to keep your self looking forward and smiling at the opportunities that lie ahead. It's boundless.

I ran something called the Frigid 5k this early this year, named such because afterward everyone plunges into icy Utah Lake. What we found out the night before and in the morning was that it was snowing/raining solid and that we had to run the race wet. This was crazy, but I ended up getting a PR for a 5k with that race. Perhaps it was the challenge posed by the elements that caused me to think smile and work harder. Who knows. I just know that it suprised me how well I did but I thought smile.

This is why the Tarahumara runners can run for hundreds of miles. Long ago they built their small mountain community around the infinite run.  They even run in sandals. I understand that many have ailments and handicaps that keep them from running or running long without pain, but you would be surprised who still runs: crutches, prosthetic athletic legs etc... Regardless, whatever your athletic challenge, meet it. It will try you in ways everyday life never can. When you forget to run, or can't run, think of the next time you can. I run. and swim. You might dance, lift weights, power-walk, do water aerobics. Whatever that challenge is, think smile.

“That was the real secret of the Tarahumara: they'd never forgotten what it felt like to love running. They remembered that running was mankind's first fine art, our original act of inspired creation."
                      ― Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen