My lungs were on fire. The lactic acid in my legs was building and they begged me to quit. I found a faster song on my iPod shuffle. More motivation. I looked at my Garmin running watch. One mile to go.
“Almost done. Focus. Hang in there,” I told myself.
It was the last mile of the 13.1-mile Healdsburg Half Marathon in October 2012. I had a great race so far. My goal was to finish in under an hour and forty minutes. I knew I was on pace to meet that goal, but it was getting harder.
“Focus. Manage your breathing. Don’t bend you arms too much.”
I distracted myself by looking at the houses or counting my steps. I looked at my watch again. Less than a mile to go. I checked my pace—I was getting faster. Still, my lungs screamed and my heart was pounding. My “willpower muscle” was getting a workout.
“Almost done. Hang in there. This is just like your training runs. You’ve been here before.”
Will this mile ever end? I rounded a corner and I could see the finish line. I picked up the pace a little more. As I crossed the finish line, I looked at the clock: 1:36.28. I beat my goal by three and a half minutes. Even though it hurt the worst, the last mile was my fastest.
“Thank You, God. I need water…”
2007 National Guard Convention 5K in Puerto Rico |
I know what some are thinking…what’s two more weeks? In the grand scheme of life, not much. But when you’ve already been gone so long and thought you had almost completed the race, it’s significant.
Here is something else that running taught me: you don’t learn perseverance when you can see the finish line. It’s not learned on the plane ride home from a deployment or on the couch. Perseverance is learned by donning your body armor and 50 pounds of gear when it’s 130 degrees outside to go on another patrol even though you know you’ll be shot at. It’s learned on mile 13 of a half-marathon when you have no idea where the finish line is. It’s learned when you are 1,100 miles from home and family and aren’t sure when you’ll be back there.
Finish Strong
That last paragraph is super deep stuff; such fantastic insight!
Thanks, Derek,