Skip to content

My Happiness Obsession

Over 1000 Blog Posts!!

Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Top Categories
    • Personal Growth
    • Money & Investing
    • Law of Attraction
    • Blogging
    • Running & Health
  • Complete Post Index
Menu

Day 154: The Marathon is What You Make Of It

Posted on December 7, 2022

Well, today is Wednesday, three days after the California International Marathon. I did not run… and that’s ok.

Before I go into that, I appreciated taking four days off from blogging. Especially with the intensity of race weekend, it was nice not having to lay my thoughts down here each day.

Now that I’m on the other side of CIM, I’m glad to say I am doing well. It helped to have a new purpose on race day. When I let go of being a participant I became a supporter for my friend Erik, who was on a mission to complete his first marathon (he did). In the process of supporting him, I got to experience race day without the stress of actually running it!

This was revelatory. Charr and I went out to about mile 15 to meet up with Erik. My wife did a live video on Instagram and I took in the crowd of 4:20-and-slower runners cruising by. There were many people walking, and overall, it felt like I was seeing the relaxed version of CIM for the first time. It occurred to me that last year I spent every single moment of training, and of the marathon itself, pushing myself with an intense and ambitious goal to set a PR (personal record). While this was an incredible experience, looking back on it, I believe I was burnt out afterwards. This is fine, except that my head was such a mess after the marathon that I never got clear on what I wanted next. Instead, I was riddled with confusion, including a lot of anxiety to immediately continue marathon training. Failing to really know where I was at, I impulsively signed right back up for this year’s CIM.

And we know how that turned out 🙁

So anyway, seeing the relaxed version of CIM was like seeing the missing pieces of the puzzle of what CIM can be. As I have written before, my marathon training experience has been a continual process of intentionally slowing down and reducing the intensity of training. Despite these efforts, I was still quite stressed out about this year’s upcoming CIM. It’s quite possible this stress caused me unconsciously to pull the plug on my running the race at all.

With Sunday’s relaxed spectator experience, I now have a new experience of what CIM can be. It doesn’t have to be a super-hard, super-fast, super-stressful fight to the finish line. Later in the morning I went to the finish line and watched the 5 hour finishers. They looked equally happy with their accomplishment as the 4- and 3-hour finishers no doubt were. I saw several other runners I know finish in the 5:10 to 5:20 range. I was proud of them.

And I got a lesson that whether it’s a leisurely jaunt or an intense run-for your-life, the marathon is what you make of it.

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Property of:

Recent Posts

  • Saturday’s Alright For… Quality Questions
  • The Blog Shines On
  • When Today’s “High” Prices Become Screaming Good Deals
  • “Dark Emotions” (Original Rhyme)
  • The Timeless Timeliness of Past Posts

Read Posts by Category

Blogging (150) Books (93) Creative Writing (76) Creativity Topics (90) Higher Self (88) Home Life (22) Law of Attraction (153) Miscellaneous (135) Money & Investing (149) Movies (15) Music Career (61) Original Music (57) Personal Growth (378) Running & Health (134) Shenanigans & Ruminations (89)

Archives

Share this page

Share

More Recent Posts

  • Saturday’s Alright For… Quality Questions
  • The Blog Shines On
  • When Today’s “High” Prices Become Screaming Good Deals
  • “Dark Emotions” (Original Rhyme)
  • The Timeless Timeliness of Past Posts
  • Focus Relentlessly On What Already Feels Good
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • Swimming with Faster Swimmers
  • I Believe in the Power of Quality Questions
  • You Do Not Need an Intermediary
  • I Did It My Way
  • “Dead Dragon” (Original Rhyme)
  • Highly-Sensitive Chronicles (Update)
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • Deliberately Taking It Slow
  • “Living for the Softer Hum” (A Rhyme-y Poem)
  • A Dandy Time Blogging
  • The Book (Update #9)
  • “Rhyming Drivel” (Original Rhyme)
  • Fishing in the Milky Lagoon
  • “The Silkworm” (Verse in Iambic Pentameter)
  • Most Versatile Blog Award?
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • “Paradise of Mirth” (Original Rhyme)
  • Building My Cathedral
  • The Thing About Groups
  • “Into Creative Waters” (Original Rhyme)
  • Friendly Financial Reminders from Me to Myself
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • From the Vault: The North Star of Happiness Beckons (11/28/20)
  • The Book (Update #8)
  • Still Playing “Toy Blast”!
  • And Now October…
  • No Exceptions
  • Highly-Sensitive Chronicles
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • What’s in Your Vibrational Meal? (Part 4)
  • Clarity is Sweet (Part 2)
  • What’s in Your Vibrational Meal? (Part 3)
  • What’s In Your Vibrational Meal? (Part 2)
  • Using the Emotional Guidance Scale
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • Despite the Drama…
  • A Week of Satisfying Blog Posts
  • What’s in Your Vibrational Meal?
  • Clarity is Sweet
  • The Slow-and-Steady Way to Become Unstoppable
  • A Highly-Sensitive Man’s Trip to the Department Store
  • Mental Muscles of Focus
  • “What’s in it for Me?”
  • Coming From a Creative Space
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • Still Calm, Cool, and Collected about Mr. Market
  • Appreciating Regular Exercise (vs. Intense Training)
  • The Book (Update #7)
  • Friendly Financial Lessons
  • Bogus Ideas Like Judgment and Unworthiness
  • Your Mood is Like a Radio Signal
  • Don’t Expect to Make Lemonade Out of Vinegar
  • Tonight’s Musical Appreciations
  • When It Comes to Piano Compositions and 1000-Piece Puzzles
  • Already a Great Year for Introspection
  • A Verbal Sculpture Garden I Just Keep Adding To
  • Hello, Old Friend
  • Thoughts on the Vibrational Universe
  • Give Them a Break
  • The Ideal Weekend for Highly-Sensitive Me?
  • The Book (Update #6)
  • Beethoven’s Third Symphony with my “Digital Orchestra”
  • Tonight’s Answers to Quality Questions
  • When Someone Else Isn’t Being Nice
  • From the Vault: Generating a Positive Attitude No Matter What (11/23/18)
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • Vanguard’s Courage to be Disliked
  • Reaching for Satisfaction (2024 Running Edition)
  • Thoughts on Blogging, Digital Footprints, and Personal Agendas
  • The Game of Achievement
  • Musing on “Separating Tasks”
  • No One Said It Wasn’t an Effort
  • Thoughts on Blogging and Book-Writing
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • More Gems from “The Courage to Be Disliked”
  • Three Years of Steady Share Prices
  • Focused on the Long-Term
  • “The Courage to Be Disliked”
  • Glutton for Punishment
  • Winning the Game
  • Exploring Traits of Being Highly Sensitive
  • Tonight’s Appreciations
  • Enjoying the Prosperity Game
  • Breaking Down Chronic Habits of Thought
  • With All We’ve Been Through!
  • Nothing Has Changed, and Other Financial Commentary
  • Lessons Learned in 2023
  • Day 365: Don’t Overthink It!
  • Day 364: Missing It Already
  • Day 363: “Of Futile Efforts” (Original Music)
  • Day 362: Things Are Looking Up in Highly-Sensitive Land
  • Day 361: Today’s Appreciations
  • Day 360: Focus Where It Feels Best
    ©2025 My Happiness Obsession | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme