Today was a wonderful day! This morning on the show we took calls about the marathon dilemma (per my last entry). To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect and felt a little guarded and insecure about asking for insight. It ended up being such a blessing, I heard so many amazing stories and people saying “GO for it”! I wish I could share all of the e-mails because they are all so inspiring. I just love hearing people’s stories and I really believe you could write a book on EVERYONE’S life, every single human being has a fascinating story! This might seem a little dramatic but it ended up being about much more than the marathon, it was really more about going for your dreams and achieving different goals. Anyway, one of the e-mails in particular really hit home for me, and I have a feeling it could motivate others as well. It’s from Tiffany and I thought I would share a portion:
Brooke~
Even though I am not a mother, I am an brand new running junkie, which is really funny because I have been around track and field all of my life. Anyways, being able to run a long distance event is a dream of mine, but I know it will take a LOT of training, discipline, courage and faith – but I know one day I will do it. Running a marathon is one of those “life-changing” or “full-circle” moments, as Oprah calls them, and every person should have one of those moments, even three or four, if they are blessed enough. The fact that you, a working-mother of three beautiful boys (all under the age of 6), has the desire to run a marathon is admirable and it takes a lot of courage to express that desire aloud and in front of a large listening audience! You should not look at the training and discipline it takes to run a marathon as “guilt” because you feel you are taking time away from your boys. You should look at it as an adventure, not just for you, but your whole family.
Even though your boys are a little young to run long distances, there is no reason why they couldn’t join you on a little cool down jog/stroll once you make it back home. Have them be apart of your journey – put a big running board in your house somewhere and have the boys draw pictures on it and help keep track of your distances. The fact that you could say at the age of 28, (just a six months after giving birth to your 3rd little boy under age 6 and working full-time), you had the opportunity to accomplish a HUGE goal of running a marathon in Hawaii (Home of the Iron Man) before age 30 is a great confidence and strength builder for you as a mother, woman and child of God. If you can master 26.2 miles of hard, physical endurance–you can handle anything that comes in your way in the future. I guarantee that you will reap the benefits of the experience for the rest of your life.
Don’t look at it as time away from your family, but as time INVESTED in your family, because you were able to master one more thing that built you up, making you a stronger woman and mother who knows how much she loves her family. Your boys will know, at a very early age, that their mother is a strong woman and they have a mother who will go to the ends of the earth to make their lives better. At the end of the day, I don’t think they will remember the time you were away from them, but they will remember the time they got to spend with you on this journey and they can go and tell their friends “that my mommy ran a marathon and I helped!” The good times keep you happy and fulfilled and the bad times make you stronger and help you to persevere. What better example of perseverance is there than a marathon??
Pray about it and see where God leads you. Blessings on your journey- whether it’ll be this year or 10 years from now!
Thanks Tiffany! I guess that e-mail could apply to any goal we set in life as parents, thanks for the perspective.
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