Journey to 26.2 Day 33: Strive for Progress, Not Perfection

I saw this quote the other day when I was looking up a quote for a Challenge on Twitter I am participating in, called #sharesomethinginspiring and this just rang so clear to me.

I know there are days where I just want it to all fall into place. I want to run fast, run long and strong, I want to drop the weight, I want to see my arms and legs tone up and everything just be there. I follow a lot of fitness, running and Weight Watcher people and I want to be so close like most of them are...

And then I read this and it just seemed to make sense.

I was thinking and striving for perfection, something perfect. The perfect mile, the perfect weight, the perfect experience. You know what, I am not going to have that because it is not attainable. But progress is. Hitting my marks, running when I am dead tired, like today, or when I just don't feel like it. Hitting that snooze button over and over, sweating like crazy, filling up on protein and having to have a salad when I would rather have the fries, weighing in when I don't want to, or getting mad at the scale when it just wont budge.

Even with all of those, I am making progress because I am changing. I am creating new habits and I am getting there. Losing 75 pounds didn't happen overnight, neither did running 6 half marathons in a year or having the drive and courage to sign up and commit to running a full marathon. All of these things came with time, with progress. I am never going to be perfect and quite frankly I do not want to be, there is not fun it that, but I will continue to grow and learn and strive to live this life each and every day.

Seriously, this is what I thought about during my miles tonight. I ran them after work, they almost didn't happen because the sky looked like it was going to open up something fierce. I planned to suck it up and anyway, even if it wasn't a perfect run, I still had to do it. The weather held off and it was breezy and beautiful, so my planned 3 miles became 4.10 in 48 minutes. It felt great and before my run I was exhausted after I have a burst of energy and didn't regret that move one bit.

I recommend to everyone to take a look at how far you have come or if you are just starting out, how far you are willing to go. I promise you it will suck at times, lets me real, but geez in the end, as your going along, as you are making progress in steps, weight or just wanting to change your habits, you will get there. Don't give up! Trust the process, trust the time and you will see the results, but mainly you will feel the results deep inside!!