Today I took a rest day from my running agenda so I had a chance to go visit with Mike my current running coach in Tifton. He was injured running the other morning and pulled both of his quadriceps from the knee and had to have surgery right away… On the ride down to Tifton I had a long conversation on the phone with my old running coach Mr. Frank McCleod. We spoke of a runner that ran with us back in the day when I began training with him… He told me he had recently graduated from college and was unemployeed waiting on a job in a small dead end town. I was so shocked to hear such good talent was being waisted! When I say talent I mean this guy has a 16 flat 5k time and got a scholarship to college on his running and was completely coached throughout college and now he is back home! And I know everyone reading this at one point or another in their life has had to do this, I mean for God’s sake when I went through my divorce I had to move back home and live there for 3 long years because of financial reasons but I knew there were better things outside of my folks place…
If I had stayed in that comfort zone like I wanted to and didn’t take a leap of faith I would probably still be there with my folks or worse with my xhusband. It truely took me a year to face my fears and come out of my comfort zone from Fitzgerald to back home. I left everything I had and had to face fears of loosing the home I had with my husband and face struggle of how I was going to make it being a single mother on one income with so much debt… I tell people alot that when I decided to get that divorce I closed my eyes and moved completely on faith, and I am so thankful every single day that I faced those fears head on and didn’t remain at that comfort level…
Today I can happily say I have had the courage to do so many other things that the old me would never had done… And I believe this is what it takes to really succeed in life. When I was preparring for my last marathon I went shopping and I came across a gorgeous Livestrong bra top with “Survivor” on it… When I saw it, it jumped out at me #1 because I am a survivor #2 because I love Lance Armstronge with all my heart,and #3 because I knew this was what I will wear to my marathon! Well as you know I injured my leg and had to miss this marathon… Then I had a photographer friend of mine ask to take some fitness photos for his portfolio earlier this year, and I grabbed this bra and knew I wanted to wear it and represent that run I missed that meant so much to me… Since I did those shots (which was way outside of my comfort zone I must add) I have had so many other offers and I have moved into the fitness modeling areas which has always been on my bucket list… So getting outside of that comfort level definately pays off!!!
But I do see this guy we were speaking of eventually excelling in his life once he realizes what it takes… And we all learn our own place in the world and of course take those knocks to teach us whats best. But overcoming that fear of not knowing and developing the strength to strike out and go takes alot of courage but we are all very capable of this!
