Let it Simmer

Today I ran 6 miles. A first for me.

Supportive husband
Smiling children chanting, "Go Mom! Go!"
the sun
the pleasant breeze
thinking freely

Inspiration is intriguing.
On Sunday Ammon randomly "challenged" me to run 6 miles every day this week. I didn't take him seriously because I thought it impossible, but something inside me still wanted to do it. On Monday my brother told me he has been running 8 miles.

That clinches it. Today I wanted to see if I could do it.
I succeeded!
Ammon, pushing the stroller, ran the last lap with me. We sprinted the last 100 meters and he was winning, but he let off and let me finish first. I love that.

I've learned that people aren't immediately inspired; it starts with a seed and then it simmers and then it grows. I laugh because the immediate reaction people have to home school or diet change usually is, "That is crazy."

BUT then I discover that my family has been making green smoothies (they tried to hide it from me! ) and reading up on homeschooling. When my brother told me he runs 8 miles, before I even thought about it, something like "That is crazy!" was coming out of my mouth. You can't accept the first reaction. Give it time to simmer.

Speaking of inspiration, Angela Baker spoke at the Leadership Education conference I attended. She knocked me off my feet. I will not apologize for it's length. It's too amazing.
Greatness Inspires Greatness




5 comments:

melissa said...

abby, i ran 6 miles for the first time about 2 months ago myself. it felt so good, huh? i never thought i'd be able to do that. and i'm running the wasatch back relay in a month. shoot, you should probably take my place. i don't have a lot of "drive" and don't "train" very "much." (sorry sometimes i have to make fun of myself for using too many quotations).

i like this idea of simmering. i've got to let it simmer before i really get it though, coincidentally.

Michelle said...

Go Abby! I am far far away from being able to do that.

The Nelson's said...

Way to go Abby! Our neighbor is a big time psycho runner and a few years ago talked Tom into running the Salt Lake marathon when he found out Tom was running about 10 miles a day. Now Tom is going to be running his second 50 miler on the 6th of June. Now that's what I call crazy. Our neighbor has raced the wasatch 100 about 9 times.(different than the wasatch back relay, on this one you run the whole 100 miles yourself). I've banned Tom from talking to him (it doesn't work) because it seems that he keeps talking him into bigger races. He even talked him into signing up for the wasatch 100, but he didn't draw out. They actually have so many people sign up for it that they have to do a draw to see who gets to race. PSYCHOS!!! I do have to admit that it's pretty cool to be at an aid station or the finish line when these runners come in, knowing how far they've gone. You actually get a little emotional as do they. I think it's awesome that you are able to run six miles. Keep it up and before long maybe you'll be running you're first marathon soon. RUN ABBY RUN!

Carrie said...

Whoa. I'm super impressed. And inspired.

Keep it up so I have the courage to get there.

And I TOTALLY agree with the letting of things simmer. I'm very nervous for my children's teenage years because I don't do well with first reactions.

colleen said...

Way to go Abby!!

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