The Chocolate Race

Hey ya'll let me just talk about how I ran a 15k about two weeks ago (for those of you who don't know that's 9 miles) lol.

My mom, who is an avid runner came to me with the idea a little before my finals. I hardly ever run unless directly in a sport, but impulsively, I said YES LOL .

I'm impulsive in so many decisions in my life, which I will gladly admit is a good and bad trait :/ I still have things to work on. Needless to say, after I agreed to a 9 mile run, I continued on with my life of studying and working in Alabama as if I didn't have an impending race on my hands.

My mom would call me from time to time and ask me if I had run and I would always say "No, i didn't have time today..I was studying" or "I have nowhere to really run" or "MOOOM it's cold outside"

Then BOOM! Before I knew it, the race was a couple days away and to put it in layman's terms, I was SHOOK. I did not exercise, run, or do anything. lol ZERO.

In those last couple days, I panicked a little and I began to try to do some active things to compensate for all the weeks that had gone by. So I exercised by roller skating.

I know, I know, I didn't even run! My mom told me that too... but at that point I was straight up scared. To be out of breath. To really realize how incompetent I was.

The day of the race arrived and I had my music playlist ready (I cant exercise without it). It was a cool day and our race was set to begin at 8am. Stepping out into downtown Tampa my adrenaline started racing as I scanned the crowd and realized how many people were arriving.

Some were stretching in corners with true running gear on, laced and ready to begin. Others had a more cheerful demeanor wearing colorful clothing with striped socks and tutus. I fit into neither group. I was’t competitive in the race like those stretching and warming up and my nerves didn't allow me to be as carefree as those in tutus.

Before I knew it the race had begun and I surged through the crowd with my mother to my favorite upbeat song. For the first mile or two I kept a steady pace, careful not to fall too behind. The race had huge signs marking the mile in which you completed and as I ran I began to eagerly look for the next mile marker.

I'm going to be real with you now...a little after mile three my body began to tell me to SLOW DOWN. I let my mom pass me and before I knew it many others passed that I had, ahh incorrectly deemed, at the beginning to be not as fit as me.

I started to do lots of run/ walk intervals to compensate and then began to just give up hope....Thoughts such as "Why did I even do this?" and "Why did I not train for it?!" began to race through my mind as I gasped for air.

I know, I know it sounds tragic but somewhere in between these thoughts I told myself to stop worrying about who was passing me or who was behind or in front of me and just FINISH. I cranked my music up a little more.

I did the run/walk combo with a little more walking and began looking forward to those mile markers like it was the light at the end of the tunnel. Mile 5... Mile 6... Mile 7... and at mile 7 I began to see people waving and smiling at me.

My mood improved as I began to realize I was almost finished, I had almost made it. A lady ran up to me and told me it had been her goal to catch up with me and she had been watching me for a while.

I was shocked, you never who's watching or who you're encouraging even when you feel the most defeated. At mile 8, a man who's wife was still running, came back and ran next to her outside of the race recording while encouraging her to keep going and this warmed my heart.

I truly love -love!

The race was teaching me so much about perseverance and at the last leg of my nine mile race, my mom came back, found me and ran the last leg with me. Her only words were "Finish Strong".

My legs felt like jell-o after the race, and I walked like a old lady up the stairs that night, but it was one of the most refreshing experiences of my holiday break!

Now, I don't say this to say you don't need to train for big things (don't do as I did) but I will say that it definitely starts with your mindset. I changed my thoughts to succeed somewhere along that race and before I knew it the time had passed and I was crossing the finish line.

I'm going to apply this lesson of pure recklessness into one I will use when I need to understand perseverance this year.

In whatever challenge I may encounter, it all begins with your mindset.

Xoxo, Gabrielle