Saturday, June 28, 2014

A Life Well Spent

I write this while sitting in Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport waiting to check into, what will be, my sixth flight in two weeks on holidays. It's been a fantastic trip that has taken my husband and I to various parts of Europe as well as Morocco - and it's not even over yet.   

Waking up on an earlier flight today, I had this epiphany: I love travelling but I also love being at home. I can honestly say that I'm happy with the life I've built for myself. Sure, we all might question our decisions from time to time, but on the whole I feel satisfied. 

The past few years running marathons and writing this blog have shown me that setting challenges for oneself is important; it's helped me grow as a person and has kept me motivated in my running. These past few weeks being away, however, I've thought about my grad school convocation and the next steps in my career, but I haven't thought about running at all. 

I suppose it's telling, in a way. Goal setting is not just about picking arbitrary targets; it's about staying focused on one's own interests and priorities. When I started Five by 35, I dreamed about completing five full marathons, finishing up at the 2014 BMO Vancouver Marathon. Not only did I complete four, but I also put my career on hiatus and decided to go to grad school. Long distance running, for a time, became a secondary focus, one I needed to put on the backburner in order to accomplish the other things I wanted in my life. After missing out on May's marathon, I wanted to believe that I still had it in me to do number five. But if I'm being honest with myself, I just don't wanna

While it's important to set goals, perhaps it's just as important to recognize when we've outgrown the challenges we've set for ourselves.

I believe running will always be a part of me but, for now, marathon running is no longer in the cards. I have so much more to look forward to at this stage of my life. I'm still fresh from convocation and am resuming my career practically the instant I get home. I'm eager to put into practice the new skills I've learned in grad school, and use that experience to hopefully help people in some way. I'll make my husband join me on short weekend runs and, for now, given everything else in my life, that level of running is enough to keep me happy.

And so, for this final blog post on Five by 35, I wish you all enough challenges to keep you motivated, enough hardship to make you stronger, and enough happiness to last you a whole life long. Thank you so much for reading.

That's all she wrote. 

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