Go the Distance

We have all had a slow day that leads us to spending some time on the internet checking out news stories and viral videos.  One headline story has some links on the side of the page to others and before we know it we’ve clicked and read through a labyrinth of articles.  In this same fashion I stumbled across one last week about Meredith Fitzmaurice, a runner who finished a marathon on accident.  An accident?  While whipped up in a frenzy of working out I’ve had great days where I had the energy to push through 5 more minutes on a run, or I did one extra set on the bench working out so I sort of get it.  It is difficult enough for most people to run a marathon and she finished one on accident?  It was hard to imagine how someone could finish a marathon “by accident”.  Or was it?

As I read the article (I’ve attached it below) I was obviously impressed by her accomplishment.  Then I paused and re-read it through a different lens.  I thought about how in life we typically have a path to success that we’ve planned and laid out for ourselves.  We work hard daily at our jobs, in our relationships or on something else in our personal lives.  We prepare ourselves, and do what we can to follow that plan, but life is very unpredictable as we go down that path.  There are the proverbial pot holes, or speed bumps that slow us down, but sometimes much like Meredith we get distracted by something, or something happens, and get unintentionally diverted onto a completely new path. 

Quite often we find this sort of diversion as a setback, and look at it as harmful to our commitment of staying the course.  We get sucked in to vilifying ourselves and beating ourselves up with thoughts such as: “How could this happen?”  “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.” “What now?”  But what if we approached these diversions differently, and took Meredith’s perspective.  Once she realized she was off course, she asked for a race official on a bike to keep her company while she continued on and she became determined to finish even though it wasn’t her plan to run the full marathon.  When we get off course in our plan, it’s ok to ask for help and reach out to friends, family, neighbors, etc. to ask them to be with us as we continue on.  This is not a moment of weakness, it’s a testament to strength that we continue on despite the diversion.  What’s most important is to not give up.

I had a supervisor tell me once that success occurs when opportunity intersects with preparation.  The phrase comes from Seneca, a Roman philosopher who philosophized that we create our own ‘luck’ in life.  Meredith prepared for a half marathon, got diverted and her achievement superseded her expectations.  She created her own ‘luck’ through her preparation, and when the opportunity presented itself, she was ready to work harder than she planned and eventually achieved an unexpected success. 

As you follow the path you’ve laid out for yourself, whether it is at work, in relationships, or in another aspect of your life it’s important that when things do not go as planned that you don’t lose hope.  Don’t second guess yourself to think I’m not ready for this, I can’t go on.  There will be times where you are diverted from your plan because life is unpredictable, it’s inevitable.  What is important is to remember that you have what it takes to keep on going.  Sometimes you will have to go farther than you expected to reach success, and sometimes it will lead to great things you didn’t think were possible, and didn’t expect to achieve.  Meredith qualified for the Boston Marathon before she expected to, and she was the first woman to finish the unintentional marathon.  Sometimes things don’t go the way they are supposed to but you just have to keep pushing on and believe in yourself that you can finish the race.  Success is in your future, sometimes greater than you expected, you just have to keep pushing yourself.   I believe in you.

The link to the news story is here:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/Half+marathoner+wins+marathon+mistake/8955604/story.html