Wow

Just got this from my mom. A girl from my hometown is rowing 2500 miles across the Atlantic to raise awareness for safe drinking water for Blue Planet Run. I am including the link to her blog and an excerpt that I think rings true whether you are rowing at sea, running a race or heading to the office or school. Get ready to be inspired.

Row for Water by Katie Spotz

Here are a few random thoughts (as I have a bit of time on my hands these days for random thoughts):

• During some of my first endurance challenges I wasted too much energy questioning whether or not I could complete the challenge I set out for myself. The truth is that you never know until you try, and the worst thing you can do is not try. I learned to redefine failure, not as a failure to complete the feat, but a true failure as to not try. Fear of failure was one of the most difficult “mental walls” I faced.
• Break it down. You don’t row across an ocean in a day so it’s important for me to break it down into daily, sometimes hourly, goals and focus on that one step ahead. If I lose sight of that one step, I can become overwhelmed by the magnitude of the challenge.
• Know all things will pass. No matter how tired, hot, seasick, bored, lonely, etc. I get, it will pass. For some of my more grueling one-day challenges, like my ultra marathon (100k run), I can expect to go through all sorts of highs and lows all in a matter of hours.
• Do not make it personal. Here on the ocean weather will do what it wants, equipment will break, things will not go according to “plan”. But it has nothing to do with me. So often I can think and feel that things are happening “for”, “against”, “to” me. Things are just happening and I can choose to accept it or put up the fight.
• Understand the real challenge is me. The only thing that holds me back is me and it’s not about what happens but how I chose to react.

After reading through many of her entries, I started to think, It doesn't surprise me that she is from Cleveland...

I was thinking about skipping my gym class this morning, but how can I after reading her blog!