I read an article the other day that contained a few very interesting statistics about marathons. Apparently the LEAST number of people quit a marathon in the first mile and the last mile—and the MOST number of people quit during mile 20. I have not been able to substantiate these statistics, but they are very interesting nonetheless.

Who would quit in the first mile? No one, right, unless there was an injury. And the last mile is when we can essentially “see” the finish line. The mind tells the completely depleted body, “Keep going, we are almost there!” But mile 20 is a completely different beast. We are neither here nor there. We hit the wall. There are 6.22 miles to go, which is a lot, especially when your mind and your body begin to battle one another for control. Perhaps this is where the questions begin like, “Can I really finish?” or “Do I have it in me?”

I believe, that exact scenario, is life in a nutshell! We want things to change so some of us will agree to “run the marathon” (and some of us won’t even do that). We start out strong, but then it gets hard [heck, it’s a marathon for goodness sake, of course it’s hard.] We get to about mile 20 and then we quit. Is it because we can’t see the finish line? Unlike a real marathon, we don’t know there are only 6.22 miles to go, there might be more, but there might be less. The truth is, we quit because we let our mind win. But unlike a real marathon, there are no time limits for us. We can rest if we want. We can refill the tank. Whatever this is that we want, we need to fight for it, even if we hit the wall. But whatever we do, do not quit! Are you with me?

With Gratitude,

Beth