When the Extraordinary Becomes Ordinary...

I've been thinking about this concept a lot lately, and I'm sure it has to do with marathon training just a little bit, but as it is when you are in training for a big event, your life tends to ALWAYS revolve around it in some small way.

I think back to when I first started running and that first 20 minute solid run of the C25K program was EXTRAORDINARY!! I was amazed...I was so proud of that accomplishment...I cried a few happy tears. And then it became ordinary.

I think back to my first 5k and how proud I was to finish it in under an hour...that was just EXTRAORDINARY. And then it became ordinary.

I ran a 10k in the hills of Idyllwild and even though it took me 1 hour and 22 minutes and I was beat by at least one speedwalking grandma, it was EXTRAORDINARY. And then it became ordinary.

I ran a half marathon and even though it was SO. FREAKING. HARD, I finished it and the fact that I ran 13.1 miles was EXTRAORDINARY. So I ran a few more. And then it became ordinary.

I lost a whole lotta pounds by going from 240 down to the 170's and that was EXTRAORDINARY. But now that I've been at the same place for several years it has become ordinary.

I'm training for a marathon and I read all these blogs about people running marathons like they are nothing but a 5k and what once felt like EXTRAORDINARY became something that seemed so ordinary. If these folks can go bang out 26.2 miles in 3 hours on a regular basis then it must not be that big of a deal, right? When you read about people running marathons all the time it seems like "everybody is doing it, Ma, why can't I?!?" After all, it's so ordinary. There's nothing extraordinary about it...

But you know what? All, let me repeat that - ALL - of those things are no less EXTRAORDINARY today. Just because I have already done them, or others have done them, or others have done them better or faster or more frequently, or more easily, or I have done them better, faster or more easily than the first time, it doesn't make them ordinary. They were extraordinary then, and they are still extraordinary now. What makes them even more extraordinary is that they were a BEGINNING; a first step; a starting place.

That I had the balls courage to do them that first time, and continue doing them even through sickness, pain, injury, fatigue, you name it...is truly EXTRAORDINARY. And I can't forget that...ever.

Running a marathon in (goes to check Countdown Timer)...Good Lord, 46 days (how the hell did that happen???) is extraordinary. I don't care if it is ordinary in some people's books - it's not in mine and never will be!

Running 16 miles on a Saturday morning even though I was suffering from the absolute worst visit from that bi*ch Aunt Flo in a very long time is EXTRAORDINARY.

We do a lot every single day that is extraordinary, yet we let it become something that is merely ordinary. We need to stop doing that. We need to celebrate all the little extraordinaries (yeah, I made up a word, sue me...) we come across on a daily basis. Because let's be honest for a moment, sometimes the simple act of not slapping someone is EXTRAORDINARY. ;-)

So, today, my challenge to you is to go and be EXTRAORDINARY!!! Take note of everything you do that is not your usual and is not your remarkable! And never forget this: