I had two great gravel road runs this weekend. My particular gravel road was of the one-and-a-half-lane-wide variety. It was also hilly, with a .75 mile steady climb and had just been grated ... which means there were lots of loose stones. All of this made for some great metaphors.
1. When the hill is long and the footing is shaky, keep your eyes on the road right in front of you and put one foot in front of the other. The distance will take care of itself.
2. The hill and you are the only two who will know whether you ran all the way up or not. The hill doesn't care one way or the other. But you will always know if you quit on yourself.
3. The downhill sections are the reward for the uphill ... or so it seems at first. The truth is the downhills can be harder because you're trying hard to not lose focus and slip on some loose gravel and fall on your butt when you're not paying attention.
4. The uphills make the run. Conquering them makes YOU.
5. When the going is smooth, pick your eyes up from the road immediately in front of you and trust your feet to take care of the present. Use that time to assess what's to come and to get your head ready to tackle it.
6. Stand up straighter and run a little faster when a car passes you ... and don't get pissed that they're there. Use the opportunity to look good and improve your time/form/run in the process. (This metaphor is about bosses, in case you didn't get it.)
7. Enjoy today's run. It might rain tomorrow.
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