Just keep going.

I am a runner. I love to run  (most days)
if you are not please hold on and keep reading, it is not a blog about how to run. 

When I hit the road its usually early morning , before my husband leaves for work and while the kids are still asleep. Its my alone time, my deep thinking, clearing my mind, pep talks for myself time. I get to usually watch the sun come up, I see NO ONE and its perfect.

I am in the middle of Marathon training right now, this coming Saturday I am running longer then I have ever ran, its intimidating and scary, and challenging to just think about, let alone go out and do. I struggle with the mental battle of "can I really run that far?" and some days its a physical challenge, my legs are tired, my knee is sore, I am loosing my toenail, I have blisters on my heels from my socks rubbing for 13 miles, I have chaffing under my arms.... its not a pretty sight.

But I view running a lot like life.

Some days I am exhausted. Its hard to even get out of bed let alone put my running shoes on and take that first step out the door. 
-Life can be exhausting , it can make you so burnt out you cant even open your eyes until you have had your coffee. So tired that you feel like you are numb and don't remember actually working or playing with your kids that day. But you just got to keep going.

Its messy, some roads are dirty and there is trash and dead things along the road, I have to side step and run around those things to keep going. And sometimes its absolutely disgusting , I have to hold my breath and just run as fast as I can to get away from the smell. 
-Life is that way too, sometimes its messy . Its not perfect, it can be challenging and you have to detour just to make it. you have to side step the trash the mess around you,  But you just keep going.

Road blocks...both physical and mental happen out there during a run. Flooded roads, or fallen trees, or mental aspects of just thinking I can not take one more step , I might pass out. 
-road blocks happen in life, we know that, sometimes those roadblocks change our life, sometimes they consume all of us all of our energy, they make us into people we didn't even know we could be both good and bad. 
but we just keep going. we don't give up. 

A bad run.. I have to remind myself that even the BEST runners (which I am not) have bad and hard runs. they happen. And all I can do is try again tomorrow. Give it my all and know that I am human. 
-We have bad days in life, we have crummy stinky attitudes, we have jealousy and anger and sorrow. Some days suck. lets be real with each other sometimes you just want to start the day over. Some times we just want the next season of our life to happen. But we just have to keep moving forward. 

We don't give , we keep going. Whatever we face we become stronger, we become braver, we become warriors. Life is messy, beautiful but messy. Whatever you are facing today, whether mental, or physical , roadblocks, life let downs, sorrow, grief, joy, a hard day, a good day....just keep going. you don't think you are , but you are doing a great job.

Someone once told me, "if you think you are a bad ... wife or mother or friend or whatever it is , you're not . Because you care enough to ponder and want to be better at it." 

Its hard to not be hard on our self when we face challenges or situations BUT its how we learn and grow from them that make us who we are. So like runners, lets just keep moving, lets just keep running. One step at a time. 


Happy Monday Friends.

Nicole