Pain

A wise T-shirt saying once read "Pain is weakness leaving the body." More and more I am beginning to feel that adage is very true. Coming from a cross country runner, pain is something that I can expect everyday of my life. Whether I wake up at 6:00 AM to run four miles or show up to practice by the rec center for an evening run of 8 miles or more, I can be sure that I will be hurting before I lay down to rest. This particular week is going to be extremely long. Since we do not have a meet this weekend, our coach has assured us that he will "beat the crap out of us" in workouts. Today I ran the worst I have all year in a workout; several of the girls even beat me in one of the intervals...that's pathetic! I'm better than that!
The so-called "weakness" that leaves my body does so in such an excruciating fashion that I feel just like falling on the ground when I hit my stop watch to signal the completion of a workout or race. But in the end, it's worth it. That's when I realize that I have seen another T-shirt that has read "Pain is temporary; victory is forever." I like to think that adage has some validity to it as well. I just need to keep truckin' and get really serious about running again. It's who I am.