“A very little key will open a very heavy door.” – Charles Dickens
After a few weeks of running a handful of minutes at a time in intervals, I decided it was time to try and run a mile without stopping.
I quickly learned that was a mistake. I wasn’t ready for it. Mentally and physically, I wasn’t ready. As a result, my self-confidence plummeted like a boulder in the lake and I didn’t try again for another week or so.
But, try, try, again, right? Right. It took at least three different trial days until I was finally able to reach my personal milestone of running one single mile without taking a break to catch my breath. (Don’t kid yourself, as soon as the treadmill ticked one mile, I got off that sucker and panted like a horse that just finished running the Kentucky Derby).
So now this became my new standard. I set my mind to it and began to run 2-3 miles each week, no more than one mile at a time. This definitely was a double whammy. For me, that means it was so, so good for my self-confidence because even as an athlete, I had never done one mile before on a treadmill…however, I was also immediately shrunk back down after hearing other people say things like “That’s so easy Josie, just set your mind to it and it’ll be a breeze” or “I wish all I had to run was one mile a few times a week to lose some weight”. Yeah, that was a killer for me, and some days it was the reason my mental toughness wouldn’t carry me to the distance of a mile, but just a mere half mile.
It was hard. It was really hard.
Except, I had started the journey and that was the hardest part. Now, I was increasing a little at a time and I was beginning to see and feel changes in my body, mind, and spirit. I was starting to realize that a little does go a long way sometimes.
Josie's Journey 