ROLE MODEL
By Spencer D. West
I
f anyone could make excuses, it
would be me. I’m over 40, was 70
pounds overweight just five years
ago, have a demanding job as a
lawyer, drive hours a day to and from the
office, and, oh yeah, I have a wife (also a
runner who has a demanding job and
works full-time) and two young kids. I
don’t make excuses and neither should
you. You are not too busy to run, to
exercise, to train hard, to get faster, to get
thinner, or any of the other goals you set
but don’t follow through on every New
Year’s Eve.
“
Stop making
resolutions, stop making
excuses and stop letting
life kick you in the butt.
The only way to change is
to do it.
”
Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox for a moment
and give some practical advice to follow
through on my philosophy of not making
excuses. First, let’s talk about speed.
Everyone can pretend that they don’t care
about getting faster, but I don’t buy it. We
all marvel at those faster than us and wish
we could get to that point, don’t we? I know
I did when I started running and I still do.
Well guess what, you can. Does this mean
that you can instantly get yourself on the
podium? No, but it also doesn’t mean
that getting on the podium or winning
races is some unattainable goal reserved
only for the “genetically gifted”. I could
barely run a 28 minute 5K when I ran
my first in 2008. Now, I am disappointed
and hard on myself when I don’t break 17
for a 5K. And I don’t set limits on myself
either. I won’t acknowledge, ever, that I
can’t get as fast as the fastest guy I train
with. You just have to realize that getting
faster and better absolutely never happen
by accident. It takes lots of hard work and
the desire to actually feel some discomfort
in your life. This discomfort can also
be described as actual “pain”, but unless
injured or not listening to your body
(overtraining, undertraining), that pain
is only in your head and will fade almost
immediately after your workout. What
won’t fade, however, are the cumulative
results you gain from those hard workouts
and the feeling of accomplishment from
breaking a sweat. That temporary pain,
to me, reminds you that you’re alive and
have the desire to fight.
Don’t be blind to the other factors
holding you back either, such as weight or
mental weakness. Take it from me, excess
weight in the wrong places (stomach,
waist, hips) holds you back and makes you
slower. There is no exception to this and if
someone says otherwise, they are ignoring
the scientific data and making either
themselves or someone else feel better. A
healthy and lean body will better perform
for you than the opposite. Don’t pretend
that you don’t know how to get there
either, or blame it on genetics or any of
the other excuses we hear and make every
day. Don’t be afraid of discipline in your
life and be afraid of gluttony. The former
will help you in all aspects of life and the
latter will derail you from accomplishing
anything of substance. And as far as
mental toughness is concerned, just stop
making excuses. In my own life, to the
best of my ability, I finish the workouts I
start, run as hard as I can when I put that
race bib on, and always try to give my
competition the best I have. I could not
run with the level of athlete I train with if
I did otherwise.
SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 2014
2014 I IRUNCOMPANY.COM
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