Milano - Trofeo Montestella - "Embrace the pain" di J. Reynolds

Embrace the pain (Abbracciate il dolore).

I’ve been reading a lot of biographies recently, biographies of elite endurance athletes.  One thing that they had in common was the concept of “embracing the pain” whilst racing - going as fast as you can and then taking it to yet another level.

Now, like most people, I don’t like pain and usually do my best to avoid it.  However today, halfway through the race when I was thinking how nice it would be to slow down, maybe even stop and go and get a coffee and a brioche somewhere, this phrase came back into mind.  “Embrace the pain”.  When I think
back of races that went well, I did have some motive for really digging in and running hard, be it stress, anger, or simple determination to make this “my” race.  (Let’s be clear at this stage, I’m an average runner, what is fast for me is laughable for others, but that’s not the point.)

So, instead of sneaking off for a brioche, I “embraced the pain” or, if not quite a full embrace, I accepted it and didn’t slow down.  I tried to remember just how good it feels to know that you have run the best you can, that you have to suffer a bit now, to feel oh so much better later…and it worked as to my surprise I finished with a new personal best time.

Ten minutes later I bumped into Antonio who promptly told me I never run fast in races and that I should try harder, so maybe I haven’t quite got the technique right yet, but I’m learning.

Thanks to everyone involved in the organization of the race, despite the “pain” I had a great time.

Joanne Reynolds - Per la traduzione usate Google Translate (http://translate.google.com/)

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