Define yourself

The August 2009 of Runner's World includes a short "sport's psychology" blip from the amazing Deena Kastor. Evidently the mantra that she used during her win at the 2005 Chicago marathon was, "Define yourself." Basically, "define yourself" breaks down to the fact that your, "finish stays on your resume for a lifetime." Everything that we do, every effort we put into something, every outcome that we achieve... is attached to our good name. It makes me think of the end of the movie The Crucible where Daniel Day-Lewis' character refuses to sign an admission of guilt because it's his 'name' that he would be writing down.

Scott and I visited Memphis this past weekend for a whirlwind family wedding. While we were there we decided to take in local 5K race to see how well we could handle the rolling hills that surround the outskirts of the city. Living in a land of pancake flatness (yes, Florida pancakes are truly flatter than pancakes in other parts of the country) and training only occasionally on Florida hills (aka: bridges and highway overpasses), we both knew that this run would be a test of both our physical and mental conditioning.

At mile marker 2, I had my doubts. By this point I had already wanted to stop and walk at least three times and the idea of running another mile on hilly terrain was nearly too much to handle. That's when I decided to "define myself." I had to represent Florida, I had to represent my coach, I had to represent triathlon in a community of pure runners... and most of all, I had to represent myself and the hard work that I have put in since February. As I crested the final hill and summoned up as much energy as I could to actually run (not coast) the downhill to the finish line, I concluded that no matter what my finish time was that I did indeed "define myself" in the way that I wanted to. The icing on the cake was an unexpected 1st place AG finish and while I was a minute off of my "flat" Florida PR, I did run this very hilly course in a time that is similar to a race that I ran on Florida flats this past March (similar hot/humid conditions too). That being said, there's no doubt that my run has improved.

Define yourself. A sweet little mantra that can be applied to life in so many ways. It helped get me up and over that last hill when it really hurt and now I'm hoping that it will see me through a crumbling job market as I try to define where I truly see myself in these tough times.

And now for some pictures of what I've been up to over the past few weeks:

Making The Villages, FL our own by "illegally" riding on the back of a golf cart.

Life IS good! Ready to tackle the hills of central FL.

Triathletes clean up well!

You know you're a triathlete when your tan lines JUMP off the photo!

Returning to Graceland after a 20-year absence.

Scott's new toy (er, MY new toy). I could not put this thing down.