I Am Fast!

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.

– Marianne Williamson (often misattributed to Nelson Mandela)

I have a big butt.  It’s great great for squatting, deadlifting, and tearing my jeans.  In the past, I have never been a good runner.  I had resigned to the perception that my flat feet and big butt would never, ever actually be able to move the rest of my body very fast.

My legs hurt.  I have dropped a bunch of weight over the last few weeks.  I have still been hitting the gym hard and my legs were sore from my previous workout.  But I threw on my shorts, strapped on my shoes and hit the seawall.

For 20 minutes I put one foot in front of the other.  With every step, I kept repeating to myself, “I am fast! I am fast! I am fast!”.

Twenty minutes later I had covered 4 km.  That’s a pace of about 12 km/h or 5 min/km.  That is fast compared to my half-marathon time.  I know I can run 5 km in 20 minutes with a few more weeks of training when I drop more weight.

I have full confidence in my skills, abilities, and myself.

Be Bold

When we are young, we are told to “be careful”.  We run out the door to play with our friends and the last thing we hear is our mom telling us to “be careful”.  We misinterpret this to believe we are not good enough.  We start to believe we should be careful because we don’t have the skills and abilities to handle things that come our way.

When stepping out the door, we need to start telling ourselves to be bold.

The spare tire holding us back is not around our waist.  The spare tire holding us back is around our head.