Doing something halfway can still be "all in."
When I say I’m all in I mean it. I set goals, join teams, build strategies, and compete with all that I can in order to win. It’s the way I’m wired and the way I’ve tried to live my life. I confess that there have been times when I've been better at being all in than at others too. I learn a little more about how to stay focused on what’s important with each additional year - definitely more now than I did in my twenties and thirties.
But yesterday was different. I celebrated doing something halfway.
I didn’t pay an entry fee. I didn’t get a participant number. I didn’t join others at the starting line and I didn’t know where the end would be. When I went out to compete yesterday it was all about me. Just me. There would be no “official times” and no medals for competing, finishing, or winning. The drive was coming from within, the measurement of success was on my wrist, and the rewards were digital images and personal pride.
I did it halfway. And I celebrate. Because yesterday I walked my first half-marathon… and a little bit more!
The sky was blue and the air was crisp when I left my driveway and headed down the winding hill toward the path that travels from Redmond to Issaquah along the East Lake Sammamish shoreline. Wearing comfortable shorts, a hoodie, and wool socks with my walking shoe, I carried my iPhone with an extended battery pack and had a long list of podcasts and songs to listen to. I was on my way.
By the time I arrived in Issaquah I realized that getting back home might be more of a challenge. It reminded me of a goal established in 1961 by President Kennedy during the early years of the space race: "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." The safe return turned out to be the hard part.
After purchasing a bottle of water and an apple to fuel my return, I realized that by completing the trip I would have set new personal bests for steps and miles walked in a day. I left a post on Facebook that said what I was thinking. Absent the need to call for a taxi or an ambulance, I was going to accomplish something new.
As the steps and miles continued to accumulate, my feet, shoulders, and all the joints and muscles in between began to ache. I thought about my daughter-in-law and the training she does before running a marathon. I thought about what the right equipment would have been and what the hydration requirements probably were. And I wondered if people actually trained and prepared for walking a half-marathon. Was that what I’d been doing during all the months of daily walks I’ve been taking?
Eventually I returned to the point where I first entered the trail several hours earlier. I found myself standing at the base of that same long and winding hill that was so easy to come down when I began the morning. I knew I was just 15 minutes away from completing the trip. And I found the strength and will to push myself up the final grade.
To some, it was only a long walk on a sunny spring day. To me it was a victory. I’d walked nearly 30,000 steps and more than 14 miles. I’d completed my first half-marathon.
Doing something halfway never felt so good. Who knows what lies ahead!
STEPS PER DAY:
March 23, 2014
