Going further

Sometimes a run just feels different. Yesterday the load felt lighter because it was. Having dropped off the dog and set back out on a run, the pace was faster and somehow felt easier. A few glances down at my watch and I saw numbers I hadn’t gotten to see in some time. It was so simple. I was running free.

I start every run with the dog, and most often I don’t circle back home to drop him off. It just seems easier. But whether I realize it or not, it truly slows me down.

Truthfully, it felt like a good excuse for my slowness. I take comfort in having the dog there because it justifies my pace, the era of sluggishness I feel kind of stuck in. I don’t seem to have the same pep in my step that I used to, but I don’t mind that much. I’m mostly just grateful to get out there and keep going. After all, yesterday’s pace doesn’t define today’s success.

But.

The funny thing is, a run like yesterday made me realize how much I might actually hold myself back. I choose to have the tether, the leash, in my hand. I choose to think I should be going slower too. But I’m actually choosing to hold myself back.

It’s a funny thing when you run. Or when you do anything, really. You might feel propelled forward to success and speed, mile markers. It might be your own competitiveness which fuels your fire, or sometimes the thought of other people’s. There are times you can turn it off completely and just “get it done”. These are seasons and sections of fitness and life that are all perfectly good and normal. You don’t always have to go hard and fast. There’s time for recovery and rebuilding.

But sometimes your might be ready for a new season. But perhaps your mind is still stuck, and you’re spinning your wheels in the old one.

We tend to hold on to ideas about things. About how things should go. Like how we should parent, or manage our responsibilities, or spend our time. For me, walking the dog is a daily activity, and a good one. But I don’t need to be always do it in exactly the same way that I have been. I can still care for him and then carve out some time for myself. There’s something else attainable for me now if I would just try.

Is there something else that you might ready for you to go after, too? Is there a book you should be writing, a new eating plan for better health, a fitness routine you’re thinking of trying?

Maybe now is a season for you to go faster and further. Let go of the ideas of what “should be” that are holding you back, what you think you need to carry. You don’t need to get rid of your responsibilities. I’m not giving away my dog. I ’m just realizing I might be able to do something a little differently. You might be too. A small change might make a big difference!

Be free to go for more.