things you say to help get you through (Read 636 times)

One of my personal mantras is from my dad who is from the old country... Translated from his native toungue, it's something like, "Wait until the end to tally it up" (it's longer in English!). The sentiment is that you can't panic now because you won't know how it turns out until you reach the end. So I might be tired and hurting late in a race or training run, but I won't give up because I won't know for sure how things turn out until I reach the end. Sometimes you can be behind at a certain point, but then you make it up by the end; however, if you gave up before you reach the end, then you would've pre-determined the poor result at the end. I am also a "countdown" kind of person instead of a "break it up into smaller portions" person. Some people focus on just trying to run the next mile or just to the next lamppost. I prefer to countdown the remaining miles in a race, like it's only 5 miles to the end, 4 miles, 3 miles, etc. When I countdown, it feels like the race is more and more doable because there is only so much left to run.