Hello Runner Friends!
Welcome back to the Bass Pro Fitness Series
MIDWEEK M😊TIVATI😊N blog!
Speaking of runs, if you ran the Run the Rock race at Top of the Rock over the weekend, you probably don't need me to tell you that the heat and the hills were no joke.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to run the race so I asked my longtime friend, Jeannette Luttrell, (who has completed many of the BPFS events, including the Bass Pro Marathon) what she thought about it. And she loved it of course. Although she described it as a race with hills that were no joke!
But her race day story has a backstory worth sharing….
Jeannette began the year with a goal of completing another 10K. She had covered the distance years ago when she was running more consistently, but she wanted a goal that would motivate her to get moving again, become more consistent, and see what her body could still accomplish.
Then she chose Run the Rock.
She certainly could have picked an easier 6.2 mile race. Instead, she intentionally picked something that would challenge her.
Her training included hot summer runs on hilly gravel roads, sometimes with heat indexes around 100 degrees (this summer was brutal!). There were days she was tired. There were days she didn't want to run alone. There were plenty of runs that didn't feel easy.
But she kept showing up.
When race day arrived, Jeannette knew the hills would slow her down. She wasn't worried about running a certain pace or setting a PR. Her goal was to finish within the allotted time.
She surprised herself.
Jeannette finished the Run the Rock 10k course in about 1 hour and 9 minutes, and she estimates that she ran more than 56 minutes of it.
That's what training for challenging things can do.
After all these years of running and coaching runners, I still believe one of the best ways to discover what you're capable of is to occasionally choose something that makes you a little nervous.
That's exactly what Jeannette did.
She didn't choose Run the Rock because she thought it would be easy. She chose it because she knew it would challenge her.
And then she trained for it. She showed up. She climbed the hills. She crossed the finish line. And she did better than she expected. And now she’s got her sights on the 15k at Dogwood Canyon!
So as you continue your training for the Bass Pro Fitness Series of events, don't automatically avoid challenging routes or races along the way. Look for them instead and use them to grow your miles, your mindset and your motivation. After all, every finish line that you cross gives you a renewed desire to cross another one and another one and another one.
Happy Running!
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