Today is the birthday of the most optimistic runner I know, and I just had to write a quick blog post in her honor.
Birthday Girl is a runner who organizes other runners, motivates other runners, and approaches running (and pretty much every challenge) with enthusiasm and optimism.
I will never forget being out on a run with her group one Saturday morning a few years ago. It was SO HOT you couldn’t breathe even when you were standing still. Sweat was rolling off my arms in just the first half mile. If it hadn’t been for the accountability of my fellow runners, I would have walked home immediately.
Halfway up the steepest hill on the running route, she turned around, big grin on her face, and shouted back cheerfully “Yeah! SWEAT out those toxins!!!”
She was serious.
Birthday Girl cheered all the Boston Marathon runners on in the dreary rain this year, and I bet the weather felt a little less dismal for the runners as they passed her spot on Route 16. She is so genuine, her cheering is so real, you feel you’ve been touched by some sort of brightness and light when you’re in her presence.
Sometimes when I’m running I pretend I have her level of optimism. I’ll approach a big hill and think “YEAH, this hill is going to make me feel STRONGER!!!” and this strategy works for me, not because I believe it, but because I find it so hilarious to pretend that I’m an optimist when I’m actually inventing new combinations of swear words. I’m laughing the whole way up the hill at how hysterical it is to pretend that I’m thinking “I eat hills for breakfast!” when I’m really thinking things I’ll never publish in a blog post.
In her honor, I want to recommend this same strategy to you on your next run. Think to yourself, what would Birthday Girl manage to say with a genuine smile? Whether voicing those positive thoughts helps you believe them, or makes you laugh because they’re such a deviation from what your legs are trying to communicate to your brain, I promise, you’ll feel happier.
Trust me.
You love that your Garmin wouldn’t connect to satellites, because it’s so freeing to run based on how you feel!
This hill is making you WAY stronger.
Getting lost on your run is amazing because now you’ve automatically met your mileage goal for the week!
How awesome is it that your pace dropped and you’re late getting home to your babysitter, you’ve been wanting to teach the kids to survive on their own while you shower!
Whew, it is totally fabulous that 5 a.m. was the only time you had free to run today, because how CLEAR are these roads of traffic?!
OMG I LOVE RUNNING THIS IS SO GREAT. (lol.)
Deep down, I know that this wonderful runner faces the same daily challenges we all do… and I imagine there are times when she chooses to express the optimistic side and is secretly swearing in her head like the rest of us. I have a deep respect for her ability to find and share the silver lining, over and over again, in a way that makes people around her appreciate the good in any situation. If you’ve done what you can to address the bad, there’s not much use focusing on it when you could highlight the good in your mind instead.
So in her honor, I’m going to try to start chanting strong, strong, strong, strong in my head instead of the F-Bomb the next time my calves are burning.
Happy running… don’t forget to sweat out those toxins 😉