This blog follows no particular theme. My constant craving soul just wont allow it! This is my musings on wisdom, travels, life in Spain, kettlebells, running, rock music and so much more.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

A courageous waddle

Mary over at Fit this, girl! finished her always inspiring blog post with something I thought was ULTRA inspiring;
Find your vision, pick a dream [...] and take steps to make it happen!! Your best days are ahead of you!!
I read those words before heading out on my oh so lovely run today. Talk about starting of strong with thought of accomplishing all my dreams in my head!

But halfway along the course it turned out I was having a hard time, my mind always plays these games with me. It tries to put doubt in my head that I will complete it... (damn you brain!) I was starting to listen to the doubts when I remembered something else I read that morning "The miracle isn't that I finished the race, it is that I had the courage to start" (John "The Penguin" Bingham). Oh I know that I have courage! I wasn't about to let my brain get me down and rain on my parade (run). I started blocking it out and thinking "courage, courage, courage!!!" all the way home. That was the best run I had in a long time.

The idea of repeating positive affirmations in a time of doubt I got from a Kara Goucher interview. Her word was fighter and she would repeat that in her mind if her mind was trying to belittle her obviously amazing abilities. It works! I choose courage as my word because of all the fears that I face (all of us do) daily but choose to face them head on, that is courage!
U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials - Day Six

Alright have to cut my rambles there for today, since someone is wanting to interview me and I have to answer her questions! Yeah, little old me and some of my story is going to be featured, never been asked to do that before! Ill keep you all updated!

7 comments:

Diana said...

Ah yes, the body and the mind.....they are so amazing when they work together! Nothing can stop us when we're in sync!
Great post!
Good luck with the interview......

Irene Blushing Loves said...

I've got something for you in my blog!!Check it out!Cheers!!

Unknown said...

Annika~

It's a pleasure to meet you. Your blog is GORGEOUS! I love the color scheme; it's breathtaking.

I'm a runner, too. I stick to the treadmill (boo! hiss!) because I couple my daily cardio workout with weight training, and because I live in Georgia, USA, one of the states with the most beastly weather on the continent. If the humidity didn't do me in, the bugs would finish me off. So I stay indoors. Someday, when I'm living in my own, private utopia, I'll only exercise outdoors.

Your mantra "courage" has struck a chord with me. It's fate that I read this post today. I'm writing a novel, and like your run, the project started out inspired but has given way to thoughts of self-doubt and fear I won't finish. Your words have given me a lot to think about, and a new idea for self-motivation is budding in the garden of my mind.

Thank you!!

I'm glad you've joined me as a follower on my blog. I look forward to reading more from you!

:) Nicole

Annika said...

Diana - don't you just love being unstoppable!

Irene - Thank you so much!

Nicole - Oh you are such a delight, thank you so much for following me too! I am so glad that you enjoyed the post and I love how you twisted it so it applied to your writing. Don't let anything, especially fear (which is just a petty emotion anyway) stand in your way to brilliance!
Believe me, your blog is what I need to be reading more of, I had forgot how much I loved to write and reading your posts is awakening that passion again! So I should be the one thanking you!

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

I wish I could run. Truly. I want to be one of those people that get out there in the morning and go jogging through park looking all fit and sweaty and cute and athletic. But ever time I run, my knees just about give out and I run out breath, and my side gets to throbbing, and then I get such a bad headache I nearly vomit. So, I ride a bike and don't look nearly as cute or athletic. Ah well. It's about results, right? but I think it's awesome how you pushed yourself to complete the run. Such a difficult thing to do sometimes, that final sprint to the end. For some reason, the closer we get to meting our goals, the easier it is to lose motivation.

Annika said...

Carolina if you really want to run, maybe you need to start out slower and build your way up to "the looking cute" part, ha! I started with the couch to 5K program and you start with just running a minute, then walking a minute and so on till you run over 3 miles without stopping!
"the closer we get to meting our goals, the easier it is to lose motivation." That is so very true! Fear is such a powerful emotion, but we have to remember that it is just that, an emotion!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the shout out! Nice job on the run dear!!