I have learned a lot about breaking down a seemingly impossible goal into small, do-able steps by running marathons. When I am running a marathon, focusing on the 26.2 mile goal does not do me any good. For marathons, I focus on the mile I'm running. Because I am confident that I can run a mile, and going from mile 7 to 8 is doable when it’s taken out of the context of mile 7 in 26.2. With coronavirus, focus on today. This is a mind game. We are on mile 4 out of an unknown number of miles. Focusing on that unknown number will do anyone’s head in. It’s much easier when there’s certainty, when there’s a countdown to a finish line. But you know you can complete a mile, you know you can get through today, so focus on today in the context of getting through today.
I have also learned that the way I feel at one given moment in a race is not reflective of how I will feel for the entire race. When I am running a marathon there are always lows and highs, the key is that when I hit a low and start to think “my legs feel so tired there’s no way I can keep this up” or “my stomach kind of hurts, what if this becomes a problem” to remember that things change over time and you can get a second or third wind. There’s nothing to say that how you are feeling right now will be how you feel even 15 minutes from now, so don’t put too much weight on it. If you are feeling down or anxious right now thinking, how in the world will we get through this, try to put it into a smaller time frame. You can make it through today, so focus on that. Every mile you complete, every day you get through, brings you one more closer to that finish line wherever it might be.
