Soar

I'm not going to be an Olympian but that doesn't stop me from leaving everything on the road this weekend. Whether someone is aiming to complete their first 5k in under an hour, or if their goal is to clock an Olympic qualifying time, all of us have put in the hours, days, weeks and months of training to get to race day. It's that momentous day where our work translates into reward. Where we can look back and say "it was worth it."

The tougher the climb, the more beautiful the view is at the top.

To me, and from what I have learned about most runners, running is an outlet. It's the vent through which our stress passes so that we don't carry it around like a sewage tanker truck. It feels much better to sweat it out than to let it fester in our blood and organs. So a lot of us, when we look back at those months of training, we don't just see sore muscles and sweat. We see adversity. We see emotional struggles. We see obstacles and climbs that we have scaled and conquered, that have strengthened not only our muscles but our wills.

It takes a lot of work to get to race day. The struggle is over--now it's time to enjoy the view.