You can’t see me right now, but for most of my life I have had short hair; only once, for about a two year period, have I ever allowed my hair to grow past my shoulders. It was brutal, but at least I can say that I’ve done it. You see, my hair is very, very thick, wavy (and not the good wavy, the frizzy kind – you know what I mean), and rather unruly; I would rather spend time doing anything other than working on my hair. Nevertheless, I am always attracted to the hairstyles of individuals who are nothing like me: my most favorite hairdos belong to women who have fine, thin, blonde hair that will lay straight and submit to the wishes of its owner. Here’s one of my latest faves, that of June Diane Raphael who plays Brianna in the television program Grace & Frankie:

At times, running is like this for me, too; I seem to want what I can’t have instead of being thankful, grateful even, for that which I am most capable. A running friend recently mentioned her return to marathon training and joked that she was “just off of elite pace” with her average of around 11:30/mile; she said sounded disappointed. I told her that the most important thing about her pace is that it belongs to her; it doesn’t matter what the pace is, all that matters is that we own it and have the ability to choose where we’d like to go from here.

I work in a large hospital; while attending rounds with one of our medical teams last year, a situation with a particular patient came up and I stuck around afterward to discuss it with one of the physicians. I asked him about something that puzzled me and this highly-regarded surgeon and specialist said, “Always remember that we don’t have all the answers; that’s why they call it practicing medicine. We’re getting better because we’ve been practicing for a long time, but we’re still practicing.”

With running, we’re practicing every time we put those shoes on and step onto the road, trail, treadmill or track; what we do with the knowledge we acquire during that particular time of practice is up to each of us. It might be that we take that knowledge and use it to develop a plan to increase our speed or our endurance; maybe we take it and use it to motivate or encourage ourselves on a future run and maybe, just maybe, we recognize that this is where we are and it feels great because we know we’re practicing for better health, to feel good about ourselves or to set a great example for others.

I’ve done a lot of practicing in my life, for lots of things; I’ve been running for over twenty years. I can definitely say that I’ve learned a lot about myself, my body and my dreams during this time and I have certainly accomplished things that I never imagined. I can also say that I’m still practicing…practicing to become a little gentler with myself, practicing to discover what it is that I truly want to achieve and what goals I’d like to set, as I take one step and then another. I’m also practicing to remember that my pace belongs to me and, like my hair, I need to start with what I have and recognize my strengths and weaknesses. Every day that I am capable of doing something I love is a gift and I hope that running can be a gift to you, as well.