Living, Loving and Letting Go


Running Wild, Racing Focused

I believe that one great thing people can do is enter a running race. I also believe that training and racing are great metaphors for life and the way we live it.

I was talking to the Beach Runners Saturday trying to remind them, as we prepare for the Long Beach Marathon, that all you can do is prepare. You never know what the day will bring. Sounds like life, doesn’t it?

Will it be hot, cold, windy, still, rainy, dry, clear, cloudy? How will you feel that day? If you stay open, you will experience many different feelings. I’ve personally been high and low in the same race, then been high again at the end. I’ve had good races and poor races. I’ve had fun races and no-so-fun races. In the end, like each day in life, they are all learning experiences. So here’s my secret:

Relax, Empty, Let Go and Smile

If you watch any of my RunCasts you always here me say I am working on relaxing, emptying and letting go at some point during the movie. If I can do it on the race course how come it is so difficult to let go in life? I am not sure, yet I know if I keep practicing in races, chances are, it will get easier in life. You’ll also hear me using my time on the course to give thanks. I am especially thankful for all the people in my life, all the love I’ve received and all the support I am receiving out on the course from volunteers and spectators, regardless of my personal feeling at that moment. I usually notice a smile comes to my face and I realize how lucky I am to be out there that day enriching my life through training and racing.

Race Focused, Steve Mackel, Beach Runners Head Coach

October 1, 2007 | Filed Under Steve's Posts 

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