Believe You Can

City Farmhouse

This past Sunday I ran a 5k race in my hometown of Bellport, NY, it was a race I hadn’t ran in 10 years (pre-baby days.) Last July I wanted to run the race but something inside said “you can’t.” I just had my son in March, was still recovering from my c-section. I was good at making excuses not to run the race ultimately because I didn’t want to fail or not be able to finish.

This summer I just said to myself “I am going to do it!” I started running one day instead of walking and each day I pushed myself further and further. Some days it wasn’t easy but I kept going.

Race day came, I was tired & a little nervous, my competitiveness kicked in, I had something to prove to myself. The whole time I was running I kept thinking “believe you can!” Oh my goodness, it was hard to get through & it was hot but I wasn’t going to stop, NO WAY.

I finished the race, of course I wanted to do better but I realized sometimes it’s not about winning or the end result but sometimes it’s about the journey we take & lessons we learn about ourselves along the way. An important message I will carry with me as a mom.

My son asked me yesterday, “mommy why did you want to run the race if it was so hard?” So I said “sometimes when things are hard & sometimes scary and we actually push ourselves to do it, it makes us feel good inside, it builds us up and makes us better.” He said “yeah, that’s what swimming does for me, sometimes it’s hard but I feel really good after.”

That right there is why I am glad I did it!