To run a marathon, you gotta know where to put the tired.*
At mile 12 of my training walk today, my legs became heavy and tired. This spread to my back, shoulders, and engulfed my whole body. I wanted to stop. Take a rest. Walk further another day. Then I remembered Seth’s words and decided to “find a place to put the tired and sore.”
To figure out where tired and sore belonged, I had to get to know them better: The throbbing, hot feet; the heavy ankles; the burn of the shoulder straps digging into my skin. I kept moving. My feet and hiking poles were rhythmically striking the trail path. Tall trees outlined the path ahead and appeared to serenade me as the bright, spring sky provided light and warmth. Around mile 14, the tired and sore had settled somewhere inside. I’m not sure where. I was still moving. And then, in the next step, strength and lightness arose, recruited out of nowhere. I continued to walk to my goal of 15.5 miles.
*Wisdom from Seth Godin: Entrepreneur, teacher, marketing guru, author of many books. His latest, “This is Marketing” is a page-turner.