Truimph over Adversity

Are you familiar with the heart wrenching story of British marathon runner Paula Radcliff at the Athens Olympics? At mile 23 she dropped out of the race after an excruciating fight for what looked like the entire duration of the marathon. She struggled, though jockeyed between position 7th and 2nd. And then when she just could not fight any longer, when what she explained as severe fatigue taking over her mind and body from the minute the gun went off, she collapsed on the sidewalk - an athletic defeat that scorned her name on British newspapers for months, which then made a woman who ran competitively since she was in grade school question her love for a sport that earned her a living and defined her value and worth. This was the race she was expected to bring home the gold for England. A race that a country depended on. A race that nearly shattered the career of a woman who unfortunately had her worse race in the spot light of millions.

Bad races happen to even the best runners. It's the nature of the marathon: a race that not only physically challenges one's ability to put one foot in front of the other for 26.2 miles, but ultimately tests the will of the mind to endure discomfort, pain, and stress that may not be tolerated with beauty and dignity. Paula came back three months later to win the NY Marathon. And with this she earned praise and newspaper headlines, along with continued scrutiny as to why she was able to pull that race off with a victory rather than the one race she was expected to stand on top of the podium. She triumphed over adversity and still continues to be a leading force in the woman's marathon. She still runs and talks about running with joy and love in her eyes. What I love the most about this woman who made more headlines with her breakdown in Athens than she did when she was still running 70+ miles when six months pregnant, is that she never gave up even though her tears on the sidewalk in Athens would say otherwise. Paula came back after only three months of being absolutely torn apart into tiny pieces through the headlines and magazine articles, to be then the centered stage attraction in NY, where both fans and critics watched to see if she would have another break down. What fight she possessed. What humility she exhibited. What an athlete.

Though most of us are not competitive marathoners, we are athletes in our own game of life. We are mothers who are looking to discover our abdominals after years of not being able to see them. We are former collegiate athletes who would like to get back into game shape. We are 20 somethings who after college desire to be high school fit one more time. We may be in our thirties still after all these years struggling with the freshman 15 and who get nauseous when it's time to put on a bathing suit and enjoy lake excursions and Austin pool parties. And we are those who have never been in shape before, who have struggled with our weight for years and who declare this year to be finally the time we stop hiding from the mirror and adventure into single digit sizes of jeans.

No matter where we are in the weight loss journey or quest to get back into shape, we may encounter more adversity than victory. There will be moments when you may pull a muscle, fracture your foot, or herniate a disc. There will be times when an innocent adventure to a new exercise class has you now out from exercise until the pain subsides; or you have just run a marathon and now you are dealing with torn tendons in your foot. There may be inexplicable moments of extreme weight gain - even when you have been eating clean and partying less - and now you visit the doctors more than the gym and you still have no idea why you continue to gain weight. There will be days when your schedule does not allow you at all to exercise, when a new promotion has you spinning in circles and your boss does not care that you cannot fit into your work clothes and your mate does not understand why all you can do is cry when you think about the effort it takes to lose the weight you have gained in the past few months. And then there may be that one day that you receive terrible news - an expiration date for the one you have looked up to for years or divorce papers waiting to be served at your office - and now not only do you struggle with getting your butt to the gym, you struggle with the yearn to even continue putting one foot in front of the other. There will be nights of loss sleep, laying in bed with eyes wide open, dark and lonely nights of tears and those questions that will just not go away. Moments of searching for the answers. Searches that are not successful.

At times you will want to just throw in the towel, say the heck with this exercise game plan and sit on the couch and console yourself with chocolate, chips, Chinese food, too many glasses of wine, and self-deprecating moments of loss sole syndrome. There will be those irrevocable moments of collapsing on a sidewalk in front of critics and fans and all you can do is put your head in your hands and cry.

I will save you the dug-out pep talk that may be my usual mode of operation. Right now my friends I have two annoying injuries that will just not go away and all I want to do is run Town Lake, accomplish my goal of doing an unassisted pull up, and do all of the classes I teach in a week without having to sit in an ice bath at the end of the day. I at times have been feeling sorry for myself. I cry. I lay in bed at night praying for my leg to get better and for my shoulder to stop twitching. I too want to throw in the towel at times and stop worrying about losing weight and fitting into my skinny jeans. So I honestly don't know if I am a good source of inspiration or knowledge as to how to get over the hurdle and win YOUR next NY marathon.

The only thing I will share with you is something I have been learning in Yoga these past few weeks. Yes, that's not a typo. Yours truly has been doing Yoga. I am trying to find my Zen! The other day I was in a pose that my body would not cooperate in and I wanted to flee the class so bad. I was pissed. And of course because I was having a hard time letting go of my ego, nothing was really going well. Then the instructor said to me as if I was the only one in the class, "What opportunity is your body presenting to you?" Talk about Yoga enlightenment! A light bulb went off and suddenly I was hit over the head with an ah ha moment of self-revelation. Ding bat, I thought to myself. Silly girl! You are injured, not only because your body needs a rest and you would not provide it so now it's doing it for you, but this injury happened just at the right time. If I continue to ignore the possibility of opportunity in every adversity I meet, then I may miss out on a whole lot of life happening around me! Maybe at this time in my life I am suppose to stretch, relax, and find my breath. This injury does not have to be a death sentence, rather an opportunity for a greater life. I'm not trying to get all metaphysical on you, but things are just making a bit more sense these days now that I am discovering the tightness of my body, and mind, in Yoga class.

Wouldn't you know it, but with one deep breath, I finally nailed that pose.

What opportunity is life presenting to you right now? How can you overcome your adversity?