Yesterday I posted the first 5 life lessons I learned from running my first marathon.\u00a0 If you missed it, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today, I share the remaining 5 lessons.\u00a0 Enjoy!<\/p>\n

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6. Be well nourished.\u00a0 <\/i><\/b>Fuel your body right, and your body will fuel you. \u00a0This is a really important one. <\/i>\u00a0Without proper nourishment, you will lack energy.\u00a0 Without energy, you can\u2019t get anything done.\u00a0 Period. \u00a0\u00a0Increase your energy levels by eating the right foods, and drinking more than enough water.\u00a0 Give your body what it needs before you think it needs it.\u00a0 In other words, drink the water before you are thirsty.\u00a0 I would not have been able to finish even a quarter of the race had I not put the proper foods and drinks into my body.<\/p>\n

Every day, eat 3 balanced meals with healthy snacks in between and drink a ton of water.<\/p>\n

There is a direct correlation between your energy levels and the quality of your life.\u00a0 More energy means you can do more of the things you enjoy.\u00a0 Manage your energy and live a kick-ass life.<\/p>\n

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On a scale between 1-10, how would you rate your energy levels?<\/b><\/p>\n

How well do you nourish yourself?<\/b><\/p>\n

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7. Train the body, master the mind.<\/b><\/em>\u00a0 <\/em>Both need to be in peak condition to be able to reach your goal.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Body<\/b><\/p>\n

During my training, I had a common injury for runners.\u00a0 My IT Band was acting up and it caused pain in my knee every time I ran.\u00a0 The problem started when I was training on my own.\u00a0 I just ran through the pain, thinking it would just go away.\u00a0 After joining the running club, my coach suggested some things I didn\u2019t try before.\u00a0 Stretching before and after my runs, better runner form, new shoes, and rest, to name a few.\u00a0 After a couple of weeks, the pain was totally gone, and I was back on track with my training plan.<\/p>\n

If you are out of shape, you are expending extra energy to do things.\u00a0 The energy that can be better used for other things.<\/p>\n

Be more aware of what\u2019s going on with your body.\u00a0 Awareness is the first step.\u00a0 Once you are aware, then you can take steps to fix whatever you need to.
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Listen to your body.\u00a0 What\u2019s it trying to tell you?<\/b><\/p>\n

Do you get sick often?<\/b><\/p>\n

Is your body sore?<\/b><\/p>\n

Do you get headaches?<\/b><\/p>\n

Do you feel drained all the time?<\/b><\/p>\n

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Mind<\/b><\/p>\n

The mind will play tricks on you if you let it.\u00a0 It has the power to paralyze you. \u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s impossible to eliminate self-talk.\u00a0 The trick is to manage it.\u00a0 The little voices will always be there, but you have a choice of how you respond to those voices.<\/p>\n

From my training, I knew that after 30kms, my little voice started to talk more loudly \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

By this time, that little voice became a big voice and it was yelling at me\u2026 \u201cyour leg hurts, you need to stop\u201d or \u201cyou are hungry, why not stop and go eat, you\u2019ve earned it\u201d.\u00a0 Through my training, I knew to expect this and planned for it.\u00a0 During my race, I found someone that ran at a similar pace and we ran together.\u00a0\u00a0 While we ran, we chatted and chatted.\u00a0 This distracted me from my self-talk.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be surprised by it.\u00a0 Be proactive.\u00a0 Expect it, and execute your plan.<\/p>\n

What triggers your self-talk?\u00a0 <\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

What can you do to better manage it?<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

8. <\/i><\/b>Pace yourself.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Early on in my training, I was always trying to keep up with everyone else.\u00a0 I could for a bit and then I fell back waaaaaaaay back.\u00a0 I quickly realized I couldn\u2019t continue on like this.\u00a0 I had to work towards finding my own pace.<\/p>\n

My training leading up to the marathon helped me find my own pace.\u00a0 How did I do it?\u00a0 I committed to a regular running schedule.\u00a0 2 shorter runs on Tuesday and Thursday morning, and a longer run on Saturday morning.\u00a0 By getting out at the same time every week, it helped me form a habit.\u00a0 Over time, it just became automatic.\u00a0 Since my coaches saw me often, they were able to better monitor my pace.<\/p>\n

Another tool that helped me greatly was a GPS watch.\u00a0 Since my coaches could not be everywhere on my running route, my watch would help keep me on pace. Periodically, I would transfer data from my watch to my computer.\u00a0 This really helped me plan out my pace for future runs.<\/p>\n

I remember on race day when the starting pistol went off, there was so much energy and excitement.\u00a0 In the first 2 kilometers, I found myself fueled by this energy and was running much faster than my pace. \u00a0I wanted to have enough energy to run the next 40 kilometers, so, from that point forward, I kept a close eye on my watch, and kept within my pace.<\/p>\n

If you go too fast or have too much on the go, you will run out of energy and eventually burn out.\u00a0 Avoid burnout by knowing your pace.<\/p>\n

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What are you using as your personal GPS to ensure you are staying on pace?<\/b><\/p>\n

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9.<\/strong> Plan and prepare.<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 Winston Churchill once said, \u201cHe who fails to plan, is planning to fail\u201d.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t agree more.<\/p>\n

I knew I didn\u2019t have to reinvent anything as many had already done what I was planning on doing.\u00a0 I leveraged my coach’s knowledge and we worked together to create a personal training plan.<\/p>\n

My training schedule was all mapped out based on my goals.\u00a0 Week over week, I added distance to my runs.\u00a0 To help prepare me for the race, I did interval training, hill training, and distance training.\u00a0 Switching it up helped to make me stronger and better prepared for race day.<\/p>\n

Through my training, I knew what to eat and drink the night before a run.\u00a0 I also knew what food and drink I had to carry on me during my runs.<\/p>\n

Prior to race day, I knew the course.\u00a0 This helped eliminate the unknowns.\u00a0 No surprises.\u00a0 The less I had to think about on that day, the better.\u00a0 \u00a0I knew where the start and finish lines were.\u00a0\u00a0 I knew what time to arrive so I had plenty of time to stretch and get my mind right.\u00a0 I looked online and found a 3D map that showed me where the hills were.\u00a0 The map also showed me the location of the watering stations and the bathrooms.<\/p>\n

A valuable lesson I learned from walking on hot coals at a Tony Robbins event was to visualize your outcome. \u00a0Tony spent the entire day preparing us to walk over the 1000 degree F hot coals.\u00a0 We worked on changing our state at the snap of our fingers, but we also worked on visualizing our outcome.\u00a0 I walked across those hot coals many times in my mind before actually physically walking on them.<\/p>\n

Similar to the firewall, I ran my marathon many times in my head before race day.\u00a0 I would close my eyes and visualize the energy at the start line.\u00a0 Along my run, I would be giving high fives to my coaches and running group along the course.\u00a0 \u00a0A kilometer before the finish line, I would be fueled by the cheers from the crowd.\u00a0 At the last 100 meters, I would see my family holding up signs and my daughters would be racing me into the finish line.<\/p>\n

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Without this planning and preparation, I would have had a very tough time finishing.<\/b><\/p>\n

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In your life, what do you have a tough time finishing?<\/b><\/p>\n

How much planning and preparation are you doing in advance?<\/b><\/p>\n

10. Celebrate Your Progress<\/em> –<\/b> It\u2019s important to celebrate the journey and not just the destination.<\/p>\n

This is an easy one to forget.\u00a0 Often times we are so focused on what still needs to be done, we forget to appreciate and celebrate the progress we have already made.<\/p>\n

Set milestones or what I like to call \u2018celebrations points\u2019 along your path towards your goal.\u00a0 For me, instead of having one big celebration when I ran 42kms, I broke it up into mini celebrations when I reached 10,20, and 30kms.\u00a0 My celebrations were not huge.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t need to be.\u00a0 Sometimes it was just taking a break and acknowledging how far I had come.<\/p>\n

By celebrating along the way to your goal, you are reminding yourself that you are making progress towards your goal.\u00a0 Celebrations are usually fun, and something you look forward to.<\/p>\n

It helps to keep the momentum going strong and the motivation levels high.<\/p>\n

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Small wins add up to big wins.<\/b><\/p>\n

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After attaining your goal, take some time to appreciate your journey before setting out on a new one.<\/p>\n

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What celebration have you been postponing?<\/b><\/p>\n

I hope you enjoyed these lessons, and can somehow integrate some of them into your life.<\/p>\n

I would love to hear from you.<\/p>\n

What crazy challenges did you overcome to achieve a big goal?<\/p>\n

What life lessons can you share with everyone else?<\/p>\n

Enter your comments below.<\/p>\n

It’s time to pay it forward.\u00a0 Who do you know that could get something out of these lessons?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I posted the first 5 life lessons I learned from running my first marathon.\u00a0 If you missed it, click here. Today, I share the remaining 5 lessons.\u00a0 Enjoy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31,36],"tags":[58,68,51],"yoast_head":"\n