I’ve run so many miles, just check my Nike+ Running stats!  But ever so often right before  I head out on a run I’ll get strange feeling and think to myself, “What if I can’t do it?  What if I can handle running anymore?  What if I can’t make it through my run?!”  It happened to me tonight.  My mind raced through these thoughts while tapped on the GPS in my running watch and shoved my phone into my arm band.  Nonetheless, I pushed play on my running playlist and slowly began to run.

The first few minutes I began to gain my confidence in my running-self again.  “Hey, I can do this!  I’m not dying!” I thought.  I made it through the first mile and those thoughts of “I don’t think I can” began to fade.  5 miles was my distance goal, by the time I reached my halfway point I was starting to feel those endorphins, aka, “runner’s high” and I knew then my distance goal was probably in the bag.  Success!  If I had let my fear of failure stop me from running at all, I would have missed out on the wonderful feelings and benefits the completed from brought me.

It doesn’t always turn out like that though.  Sometimes, not very often, the run really doesn’t go well.  There have been times where everything that could go wrong did go wrong and  had to just call it quits and go home.  I find this to be an example of how sometimes failure is necessary to learn and grow.  When I analyze the context surrounding a failed run, I am then able to apply  my learning to ensure future successes with running.

Can you see how this could apply to almost any experience?  Running truly is a metaphor for life!