My body can do extraordinary things. My heart keeps beating, no matter how tired I am. My hands have performed surgery. My legs have pedaled across states. My feet have carried me over mountains. I believe in pushing limits and have accomplished things I never even imagined setting as goals not so long ago. Limits still exist, however. I can’t walk on water or through walls. I can’t do a cartwheel, no matter how many times I try. I can’t run repeat six minute miles. I can’t ride a horse through a Grand Prix course. Some people don’t have my limits. Some people have limits I don’t have. When we disrespect limits and ask for more than our bodies have to give, we get injured. My recent attempt to run a speedy ten miler on pavement after over a week off with the flu provided an excellent reminder…painful IT bands take a bigger toll on training than a week of body aches.
Part of our job as athletes is coming to terms with our limits. We only have one body. It’s the only lifelong relationship we have. We abuse it. We take it for granted. We wonder why it can’t do the things we want. When we focus on the limitations, that’s all we find…more walls. When we nourish it, rest it, and accept it, however, it loves us back in ways that we may one day marvel at.
Part of our job as human beings is applying that knowledge to every other relationship we have; to focus on the ways each person can love and be loved and not on the ways they…we…can’t.
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