A few months after graduating from college, I ran the Detroit International Marathon. This marathon is awesome because you get to start in the United States, cross over a bridge into Canada, and then finish back in the U.S.!
Although this marathon was awesome, it was also the hardest physical thing that I ever did. Small things such as walking up and down stairs the next day became almost impossible. I didn’t run for a couple of weeks afterwards and my legs felt sore for months. I honestly thought that I would never run a marathon again … and I was almost correct because it took me 2 years before I ran another one.
But then I got hooked. I started running 2-3 marathons per year and I qualified to run the famous Boston Marathon a couple of times. I even started to identify myself as a marathoner and have run 26 marathons over the past several years.
Even though I’ve run 26 marathons, I always am pushing myself to do better and do more, sometimes to my detriment. So in 2015, I was working towards getting in the best shape of my life. No … I didn’t cut out the pizza and beer, but I was running well and excited to get out there everyday. I felt so good that I actually set two goals that year:
- Run a personal best in the marathon.
- Run a 100 kilometer (62 mile) ultra-marathon.
Obviously, these are two ambitious goals, but I felt that they were both achievable that year. Besides setting these two goals, I also was changing the way I run (uh-oh). Instead of landing on the heel of my foot, I was trying to land more on the middle of my foot.
I got hurt
Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, changing the way that I ran coupled with running a lot of extra miles led to me getting injured. My injury wasn’t too bad … just Achilles tendinitis, but it led to me being unable to run for 3 full years!
As you may imagine, 3 years of being unable to do something that you love is pretty tough. I was fortunate not to get depressed, but I certainly did realize just how much I loved and missed running during that time.
Even though I still worked out and started to bike a little more, my health suffered a bit during this break from running. I even ended up gaining 20 pounds during this 3 year period. Although I told myself that I was just getting stronger and that muscles weigh more than fat, my health was definitely suffering. I even found pictures which showed that I was starting to get the dreaded “dad bod.” Then, last year, I went to the doctor and found out that my cholesterol levels were a bit elevated.
How scary!
I started running
Fortunately for me, my Achilles injury was healing, so I decided that it was probably time for me to start running. I didn’t run a lot at first, but I was definitely starting to get back into it.
After a few months of running, I noticed that I could finally run hard again. My tough 2 mile runs became easier (and faster). I eventually was able to go from a long run of 3 or 4 miles to a long run of 6, 8, and finally 10 miles. My Achilles still hurt a little bit, but I found that I was able to run without much pain.
Could I finally be getting better?
One day, I felt so good that I went out for a 12 mile run and didn’t even feel sore afterwards.
But was I better? Honestly, I was still scared of my previous injury and I just wasn’t sure …
The invitation
Sometimes, it takes something big to push us out of our comfort zone. For me, this came in the form of an invitation from one of the guys in my running club.
Specifically, this was an invitation (on June 10th) to run a hilly, super-difficult, trail marathon (on June 15th)!
Obviously, there were so many reasons to tell him that I couldn’t run this marathon. Usually when people train for a marathon, they spend 16-20 weeks slowly working their way up to a long run of 20 miles or more so that their body would be ready for the effort. I, on the other hand, had run a long run of 12 miles and only had 5 days to prepare for this adventure.
But instead of telling my friend no, I stepped outside of my comfort zone and signed up for the marathon.
The Mohican Trail Marathon
The Mohican Trail Marathon is run in the Mohican State Park, which is about 1 hour south of Cleveland, Ohio, or 4 hours away from my home in Michigan. This marathon is 1 of 3 races run that day. Many participants referred to it as the “fun run,” because the other 2 races being run are 100 and 50 mile distances!
As the race got underway, I was really concerned about my Achilles as well as my overall lack of training, so I made a conscious effort to go really slow near the start of the race. Luckily for me, most of the race was on singletrack, so I just went at the same speed as the person in front of me for the first half of the race. I was also real concerned about my long run being only 12 miles; however, at the 12 mile mark I was feeling great!
Since I was feeling so good, I decided to pick up the pace a little bit and I had a lot of fun passing people from miles 12-20. Even though the last few miles were difficult, I still was able to complete the marathon in a respectable time. Even better than that was the fact that I didn’t get injured and my Achilles injury didn’t get any worse.
*For an in depth look at the Mohican Trail Marathon, check out this great post on the DetroitRunner website.
My Lesson
I was successful in every sense of the word! I had a great time, ran a good race, and finished injury-free.
Because I was able to step outside of my comfort zone, I was able to do something that was very beneficial and fun for me. As a runner, I am now not afraid to try to run a faster marathon this fall or a longer ultra-marathon in the future. Besides learning lessons as a runner, I also learned to say yes to opportunities.
Whenever someone asks us to do something that is different or out of our comfort zone, it is easy to say no. However, I challenge you to say yes! Accept a difficult invitation and step away the normal. You may be surprised at all the great things you can learn and accomplish, just by saying yes.
When did you step outside of your comfort zone and say yes to a difficult invitation? Let us know in the comments.
And, as always, thanks for reading!
~Nathan
Let’s keep living a great life … with the help of money. So what’s next?
- You can travel for free by using rewards credit cards.
- You can get motivated and get out of debt.
- You can check out the next post or the previous post and continue to learn.
But no matter what you decide to do, let’s leave the ordinary behind and take action today!
