As with most major goals and accomplishments in life, improving your running requires a willingness to be uncomfortable. Most distance runners are willing to tolerate some discomfort. It’s all part of the game. But what I’m talking about goes beyond a little discomfort. How willing are you to persist, face your fears and walk straight into the flames in order to move beyond where you are now? 

There are some who begin with the intention to change and grow into their full potential but the moment it gets hard, they change their minds, turn about-face and walk the other way. 

Our ability to persist when things get really hard can directly affect our willingness to believe in ourselves when setting goals and making decisions. It’s easy to back down from a goal if we believe it’s going to be too hard. If we can accept that it will be hard, and we can handle it, we will have a greater ability to choose to take on the task and overcome the challenge. Facing the fear and overcoming challenges can foster greater results than if we had stayed safe and easy. 

Several years ago, I found myself standing in that cross roads as a runner. I had been running for about 5 or so years. I felt like I had a good amount of experience, had a few marathons under my belt and I was pretty satisfied with where my pace was at. I was a solid 9-min-mile-3-days-a-week runner and it didn’t even occur to me to want to run more or get faster. I was perfectly content. Until I wasn’t. Something in me clicked and I started wanting more out of my running. I turned to my friend Camie and asked her to coach me. The first thing she told me was to run more days per week. I was resistant. That’s going to be hard, I thought. It took me a while to even wrap my brain around running extra days. I started with one extra day. It took me a few years to work my way up to running 6 days a week, and then a few more years after that to work in higher mileage and faster paces within those 6 days. But I stepped in to the flames. I got uncomfortable. I persisted. And changes happened. 

It wasn’t overnight. It took years of hard work, dedication, changing my lifestyle and being willing to be uncomfortable over and over again. As my ability to persist grew, my desire to improve as a runner grew alongside it. 

As runners, we face challenges almost daily. Maybe your challenge is being willing to back off and cross train to heal from an injury; maybe it’s sacrificing some sleep to fit your run in the early morning; maybe it’s just deciding that you can endure the burn in your muscles to push a little faster in your speedwork; maybe it’s being willing to listen and follow when your coach tells you that slowing down will make you a stronger runner. 

Whatever it is for you, decide. Choose to face the flames and walk into the fire. Choose to become the best version of you.