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Three years ago I made a decision to get fit. However, we all know keeping the weight off is the hardest part of any long-term fitness plan. Sooner or later however, a plateau will occur. To offset my fitness plateau I increased my cardio by running which broke my plateau and also helped me to discover that a little imagination can go a long way.
Let me first mention that we draw motivation from many sources. Very often it's a person a thought, a song or perhaps a story that may motivate us. For me it was a butterfly.
For those of you who don't know the race, Nike sponsors an annual run called the Nike One Hit Wonder race where top Musical Bands, with No. 1 hits, would play their number one hit at every mile along the 5 mile course in NY's Central Park. This year, Joan Jett made a special appearance.
I remember my last glance at the car thermometer before getting out of the car - 102 degrees. I was wearing the mandatory Nike dry fit, bright red, jersey with my number printed on it, which was the actual ticket to get into the race. 10,000 other entrants did the same. No shirt, no entry - that was the rule.
I recalled driving up Madison Avenue trying to find a parking spot I took notice of all the red shirts walking, and biking uptown to 97th and 5th avenue, but it was nothing in volume compared to the sea of red shirts that were in Central park and at the starting line. It was almost race time and the temperature was dipping: 91 degrees!
I always get a bit nervous before a race because I have this fear of not making it. Why? I have no clue. It's weird.
As I'm waiting for the race to begin and containing my own self doubt, I overheard people talking about the hills and how big they were. Of course this fed my own self-defeating thoughts about running in such hot conditions. Now,suddenly I was intimidated by Central Park. Could I do it? Would I make good time? What am I doing here? I only had to look around to see that all the other red shirts and me were doing this run together. There were in no better or worse shape than I so if they could do it I would too.
The countdown began. The micro chip on my shoe would count my time from the moment I left the start line. I set off slowly, listening to all the folks around me chattering with excitement. I had classic disco music playing on my Ipod and I was jamming.
Along the first turn, I saw a friend of mine, a member of the press off to the side the road, she wasn't running but I called out to her and blew her a kiss and gave her a hearty wave. This was a good sign! I feel pretty good! Then I hit the first hill...this was the supposed "killer hill" that I'd been hearing about at the start line? It was a little steep, otherwise no problem. A definite confidence builder. 1 mile done - four to go! Then my Ipod froze. Damn! I started fiddling with it and lost about 3 minutes trying to reset it. The 9 minute mile folks passed me, the 9.5 minute mile folks passed me and I needed to get running! No way were the 10 minute mile folks going to pass me. No Way!
No matter, I'd have to run without it, I was losing too much time.
The second mile had a couple of small hills and I was feeling the lactic acid buildup in my legs. My mouth was super dry, I needed water. I slowed up again to grab a cup from the water station, downed it, and soldiered along. Man, oh man, was it hot and I missing my Ipod, Bigtime! I checked it again, still not working.. Some girl behind me was yacking about the guy who blew her off the night before, another was talking about how she should have taken up track when she was younger but didn't know better, and another was talking about her marathon training....UGhhhhhh, I took it my Ipod again and fiddled with it again but it was no use. I was losing time.
Almost half way there - three more miles to go! It would be fine. I would just have to think about something other than what I was doing. It was shady for most of the run, thank goodness, but the third mile hill was a killer. Not because it was so big, in fact it was a mere incline, but my legs were feeling super heavy due to fatigue and probably the heat. I passed another water station grabbed a cup of water and a cup of Gatorade and gulped it down.
It was starting to become quieter around me.
Between the third and the fourth mile my legs kicked in. Ah, finally! Now I only need to try to think about something other than the heat! Hard to do, when a girl was collapsed on the side of the road from heat exhaustion. What a bummer for her.
Conversations around me began to cease. There was an overall hush throughout the park. This was by far the coolest moment of the race. The only thing I could see was a flood of bright red shirts bobbing up and down in the distance ahead and all I could hear was the constant beat of feet hitting the asphalt. That rhythm would have to carry me through to the finish line because I needed a beat badly. I listened to my own labored breath and focused on the addition my own breathing brought to what I called the "rhythmic running band". Those darn self defeating thoughts were rearing their ugly heads again telling me that I wasn't going to make it! Not an option! I reminded myself.
"Think of something else." I thought.
Immediately, I flashed back to a story about two caterpillars who discussed turning into butterflies and one resisted the change. Once a butterfly the friend came back to motivate the weak and feeble caterpillar with a single phrase. As I hit the asphalt in 99.9 degree heat, with 10,000 other people in Central park, I muttered that phrase "You gotta have Wanna! If you have Wanna, you can do anything!
"I WANNA finish this race", I repeated to myself.
A heat delusion kicked in at that point because I began to daydream that all of these folks, knew what I was thinking. I imagined that they all suddenly opened their arms and flapped them gracefully as if they were gorgeous red butterflies, showing me their solidarity. I smiled, like a drunk. Yes, I imagined all of these New Yorkers, all 10,000 of them, for a few short seconds to be running down hill with me, flapping their arms like butterflies, knowing that they all have that one special thing: WANNA! Then I knew that I'd finish this race!
When I snapped out of it I was coming around to the beginning of the fifth mile. I heard someone exclaim breathlessly, "we're almost there." By now I'm soaked and exhilarated. I look up and see a street sign - I'm at 90th Street and I've only got to get to 97th and 5th Avenue.....whew! We are almost there!
The silence was broken, the crowd livened up again and there it was that beautiful word on a high flying banner which ended the race for all the red shirts in Central Park. I sprinted toward it: FINISH!
"Whatever it takes", I thought as I recalled my motivation with a smile "Whatever it takes!"
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