No Limits

I can do this.

I have a nasty habit of limiting myself. I think, “I could never do that. Not possible. Can’t.”

Todd is the opposite. He truly believes anyone can do anything. He’ll tell the kids they can be anything they want to be. Olympic athlete? Sure! Why not?

In the meantime, I’m shushing him, telling him not to get their hopes up, for an impossible dream.

Can’t. Not good enough. There will always be someone better.

I’m trying to come around, though. Maybe I can.

I have a precedent. I had always wished that I could sing, but never believed that I could. Working as a stage manager, in Minneapolis, in the early 1990’s, I was encouraged by the theatre folk, surrounding me, to take voice lessons. They hooked me up with a wonderful teacher, and guess what? I learned how to sing! A taste of success!

Oh yeah, there was also that graduating from nursing school thing, too. Didn’t believe I could ever do that, either.

Now, in my 40’s, I’ve rediscovered running. I ran, in my teens, but really had no idea what I was doing, no guidance, and no innate talent, so I gave it up, by my senior year. Now, thanks to the running boom and the interwebz, I have all the info I can stand.

As usual, though, I limit myself. Sure, I managed to run a marathon (three, actually,) but I’m slow. I could never be fast. I could never qualify for Boston. I’ll never be as good as “those people.”

Or maybe I can. For once, I’m going to try.

After a year and a half of running, I’ve run two 4:44 marathons, with a 4:24 PR sandwiched in between them. To qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2013 (I‘m not going to run a qualifying marathon before the 2012 registration opens in September,) I’ll need to get down to at least 3:45. To actually have a chance at getting registered, I probably need to get down to at least 3:35. For 2014, I’ll move up to the 45-49 age group, so I’ll be able to add an extra 10 minutes to those times. Woohoo!

Matt Frazier, of No Meat Athlete, lowered his PR from 4:53, in his first marathon, to a BQ 3:09:59. Sure, it took him 8 years, but he did it. Can I do it, too?

I think I can.