It just has to be.

It just has to be

As much as I'm about "Embracing the Hill," I'm not exactly bounding out of bed in the morning to go run my hill repeats. For the last three weeks all of my runs have been hill repeats and each week I've added another repeat. I'm up to five repeats this week.

On Thursday my alarm went off at 5:15am, just an hour after I had fed Liam. I felt tired, but the though of running alone in the morning light got me dressed an out the door. I stood there at the end of the driveway waiting for my Garmin to kick-in thinking and trying not to think about the effort of five, half mile hill repeats.

"They don't have to be fast. They just have to be," I told myself.

It's a mantra that I've repeated often, usually before early morning tempo runs when all my body wants to do is climb back into bed and snuggle deep into the pillow.

It just has to be. 

Somehow that mantra takes away all the pressure and expectations of what a run "should be." And more often than not when I focus on just getting out there I find the effort to execute the run at speeds I didn't think were possible when I was wiping the sleep from my eyes just a few minutes earlier.

Often times we let our expectations of the way things "should be" get in the way of doing whatever it is we've set out to do.

It doesn't have to be ______. It just has to be. 

Maybe if we embrace that thought, it will free us to press into what we are really capable of: to find  a strength that's hidden beneath the doubt.

Do expectations (either your own or others) ever keep you from doing something?

Speaking of expectations have you seen my article for Runner's World Zelle? Check it out HERE.

--Sarah

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