Saturday, February 11, 2012

This took me 59 seconds to read! (worth the read)

 It is 7 degrees above zero outside as I write this and that is not including windchill!  

 

Of course, I will run my daily 19 miles inside on a treadmill with a hot cup of Starbucks coffee within my reach.  But, it was not always like this.  When I was in Federal Prison, I ran outside, seven days a week.  In Duluth, Minnesota!  I did not have any clothes that would wick away moisture, so after a 20 mile run in literally 30-40 below windchill, I would have to peal the last three of seven layers of clothes off of me.  Each shirt felt like it weighed about ten pounds.  

 

I loved running on those days as much as any other, mostly because I had the track all to myself.  The thing that I do not miss about it is the wind that never stops blowing in Duluth.  I logged over 5,000 miles in about 21 months and did that on prison food and three pairs of shoes! 

 

Yet, I felt fortunate to be able to run as much as I did out there.  Here I was, in Federal Prison and I knew that their were millions of people that had it far worse than I did. I still remind myself the same thing every day.  As nice as it would be to take today off and just do nothing on a Saturday, I know that running almost four hours, even if it is on a treadmill is something that I get to do and millions of people have it way worse than I do right now.  I hope in telling you this that the thought process applies to you as well.  Perspective is everything.    

 

I will begin running outside again in exactly three weeks and as nice as it is to have the coffee right there, I may never touch a treadmill again for the rest of my life.   

 

Oh and by the way, if you have an extra 51 seconds, read yesterday's blog post and remember  as you read it what Dawn from Dallas Tweeted me yesterday, and I quote..."The reason that folks don't get the life results they want is because they repeat the wrong things :)" 

 

Jeffrey J. Miller
Extreme marathoner
Soon to be New York Times best selling author
of "The 365 Day Challenge"
@jeffreyjmiller1
www.booksbyjeff.com


If you have no seen it yet, check out this interview "Making the journey from prison to the World Records"

I love feedback, it is literally the fuel for my next run.  Leave a comment below.

1 comment:

  1. I think I read something like that in a book I just started reading. It's called "The 365 Day Challenge" or something like that... :)

    Oh by the way Jeff, just finished putting a (2) after "read" and "run". Next up, go to work. Have a great run today.

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