As you may, or may not know, I am 5 weeks out from my second marathon. Training has not gone as I would have expected, leaving me feeling a little frantic and full of self doubt. I recently reheard this phrase and it is bringing me a lot of peace. 

Run the mile that you’re in. 

I spend a lot of time overwhelming myself with planning, playing the “what if” game, and being so focused on the big picture and what’s coming next that I forget to be present in the moment, in the mile. 

This statement has meaning in two different ways to me right now. The first, running. 

I am so intimidated but excited to run a marathon again for the second time. With that excitement comes a level of fear. I know that my success will lie by focusing on the mile that I’m in and not thinking about all 26.2 of them at once. If I don’t let myself enjoy the mile that I am in, no matter how hard, enjoyable or easy it is because I’m so focused on what is next, there are lots of things I might miss out on. Yesterday on my long run I allowed myself to stay present in the moment and saw a lot of little joys I would have otherwise missed if I had been distracted by thinking about the next mile instead of enjoying the one that I was in. Run the mile that you’re in. 

Second, when life throws you a curve ball, run the mile that you’re in. 

Life has been tough lately between the fires and other chaos of life and instead of embracing where I am at emotionally, I’ve been too focused on what’s next and how to deal with coping. What I need to do, is analyze how I am doing right here and right now in the present moment.  What can I do now? Not what do I wish or what do I hope, but what can I do now?  Am I present in the mile I am in? Or am I focused on just getting to the end? Run the mile that you’re in, Vanessa and allow yourself to be present in the moment and practice self care.  

If I learned anything from my first marathon, it wasn’t that my life lessons came from the moment that I crossed the finish line. They came from the moments and miles where I was mentally present, battled through some tough stuff and enjoyed the journey and the struggle. That meant accepting every mile as it came. The hard ones, the easy ones. The ones I felt like a champion and the ones that made me want to give up. But every single mile counted as long as I ran the one I was in.  If you run the one you’re in you’ll eventually get to the finish line. 

I will stay present in the moment in both running and life. 

I will run the mile that I am in.