Respect and pride

My new mantra: respect and pride. Many people say it helps to have something - a word or a phrase, a thought maybe - to repeat and focus on when in a difficult situation. Murakami says that he keeps repeating "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional." whenever he hits the wall during a marathon or long distance running race. It helps focus the mind on something other than the pain or the anxiety. I get pretty anxious sometimes. I needed a mantra for everyday life. Respect and pride.

It was Rachel's idea, came up with it while we were running and she was listening to me venting about stuff: about people being disrespectful. We have to start by respecting ourselves before we can expect it from those around us too. We need respect to love: ourselves and others eventually. And if we don't have pride in ourselves, how the hell are we supposed to respect that?

Sometimes, walking away and holding onto pride can be way very liberating even when walking away might hurt at first. I have to learn to let go, to walk away.

Onto more practical things: I ran a new personal best yesterday at the women's only 10K NYRR Mini. Under 8:30 min/miles, which I am very proud of. During the race, I saw a woman with a sign that said "Pain is temporary, pride is forever". I liked that a lot. The whole time I was feeling great, I had lots of energy - 3 egg omelette the night before - and was hydrated - no alcohol the night before - and nothing hurt, it wasn't too hot, too humid, I was inspired by Paula Radcliffe and Kara Goucher giving speeches before the start. It was all about celebrating women's running, which had not always been such an obvious thing. Ladies, we have come a long way, we should all be very proud of ourselves. Now, let's go take over the world from men!

To finish, an adorable picture of Kara Goucher and Paula Radcliffe (both about 5 months pregnant) running in yesterday's race with Paula's 3 year old between them.