Eye on the prize & missing the mark!

I continue to learn life's lessons through running. Yesterday I ran the Provo River Half Marathon. It was a cool, crisp, beautiful morning up Provo Canyon. My running friend Lisa and I stayed in Provo Friday night and got up dark and early to head up. While on the bus, thoughts start going through my mind like, "What in the world are we all doing here so early on a Saturday morning?" The funny thing is that it's been our normal time for getting up for long runs, we just start running instead of getting on a bus with a bunch of other crazy people.

So the run went pretty well. I got my own PR, 1:47:30, which I was very pleased with. I love the feeling of pushing for 12 miles, then kicking it up for the last one and really finishing hard. For me, that made it totally worth it - such a good feeling.

The problem was I couldn't really get into the race. I kind of whined to myself the whole time instead of enjoying it. For example, my friend mentioned how she liked running past the waterfall a second time. "Uh...what waterfall?" I'm so embarrassed. We ran past a waterfall? Twice? I didn't even notice?? In my attempts to run my best race, I forgot to look up at my beautiful surroundings. It really was a gorgeous trail and I'm sad that I didn't relish in the beauty of the day. So my new goal for St. George in October is to love the journey all the way to the finish line! Also a good reminder for life: find joy in the journey. I only had to wake up at 4:30 for my wake up call!