As the weather starts to get colder, some of us get excited to celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving, while others spend their days running an unimaginable amount of miles to prepare for the seemingly impossible: running a marathon. To think that over 50,000 people finished the New York City Marathon last year is incredible.
Training for a marathon takes superhuman motivation and is probably one of the hardest things a person can do.
I'm lucky enough to get to hear a first-hand experience from one of my own family members. My cousin has been training with a team for months in order to complete her first marathon. I've heard the horror stories and the triumphs, and how this has drastically changed her life for the better.
I have to praise anyone who has the courage to embark on such an incredible journey as they push themselves to their mental and physical breaking points, all for the benefit of other people.
As it takes between 12 and 20 weeks (at least according to google, but I'm sure many people can attest to a much longer training period) to train for this race, trainees must devote their life to this race. Between their diet, sleep schedule, and down to the shoes they wear on a daily basis, your life seems to be devoted to this one day, where you will attempt to do the impossible.
This is something I find to be awe-inspiring, as I think most people find it a challenge to make it past the three mile mark. But something that my cousin has always told me throughout her training, is that it is more of a mental challenge than a physical one. If you believe you can do it, and you can find the motivation and the will power to push yourself, you can do it.
The lessons that can be learned from running a marathon are applicable to daily life in so many ways. The struggles that we encounter are only limitations if we let them be. We can only fail if we accept that we are incapable. But, like my cousin, who is no more superhuman than you and I, spends each week pushing herself, and finding the strength to determine her own limitations, proves that it is not a natural born talent, but a motivation and strength buried deep within all of us that can lead you to do the impossible.
