Forged in Fire

As I’m currently in the depths of training for yet another ultra-endurance race, it’s in these moments that I seem to discover new insights about my own character.

I spend a lot (and I mean, a lot) of time by myself. Often in the dark, running mile after mile, hour after hour. This, while outlandish to most, serves as such an important piece of my continued growth as a man.

In the solitude of covering long distances under the streetlights of my suburban Iowa town, I’m able to tap into pieces of my conscious and subconscious mind that I’m otherwise unable to. It’s pretty incredible, really.

That said, I’d be the first to admit that it can be many things, aside from just “incredible.”

It can be lonely, humbling, and straight-up difficult.

Countless hours within my own mind. The constant feeling of an exhausted body and spirit. And the grind of staying the course amidst it all.

Training for such a substantial physical test requires a lot of a person. The most amongst them being resolute discipline. To rise from the warmth of my bed, to gear up and to attack the task at hand day after day, whilst maintaining a positive outlook on it all … the culmination of things will most certainly test a person.

So, where am I going with this? 

To be fair, there is no real long-winded tangent that I intend to lay out. Though I could surely muster something up, something succinct and to the point will suffice in this instance.

More than once before I have gone down deep rabbit holes within this very topic, or something quite similar at the very least. I’ve even written about my tendency to drum up the same idea(s) over and over again while pushing them out via this medium. I can’t deny this as true, because it is without question.

The beauty in writing for the love of the game, however, is that these thoughts are fully my own. Not tailored to cater or to a select group, and absolutely not influenced by anything but what comes to me on a weekly basis.

Every week is its own, each one different from the last, even if eerily similar in nature.

This week, pulled straight from what’s heavy on my mind, is the concept of commitment and discipline. 

Within this current training block, I’ve grown perhaps more mentally than physically – somewhat by design, but mostly by pure coincidence. With a few already behind me in previous months and years, I decided to approach this one differently. 

The synopsis of the changes: less focus on the metrics, more focus on the consistency. 

Less attention toward feeling “good,” more attention toward pushing through feeling bad.

Feeling broke down, but lacing up anyways.

Though small, said tweaks have made a world of a difference. In both my overall fitness and my state of mind.

Rather than obsessing over the little things and over analyzing myself to death, just quietly working in the dark has been the approach.

Through the aching knees which would’ve once worried me beyond belief, the blisters that seemingly never heal, and the grogginess due to lack of sleep – one step at a time, the job gets done, day after day.

The hardest part of it all? Making the start.

The moral of the story, no matter the application in life? Just keep showing up.

This is where we grow.

Forge on.

Audio:

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