Big Picture Thinking
In two days, a bunch of people from our gym are going to run a half marathon. They’ve been training for months and are super excited about it. This is a particularly special race because it’s on the beach. They’ve done it before and they all get a house and spend the weekend together and have a great time. Nate (pictured!) is one of these runners.
The thing is, Nate has been having some knee trouble and long runs are not going well. We’ve been working on his knee in some personal training sessions and, while it’s helping, long runs are causing a lot of problems. So even though he’s had this on his calendar for a year, even though all his friends are doing it, even though he’s done training for it, he’s decided that he’s going to do the 5k instead of half marathon and that he might even walk it.
That wasn’t an easy decision for him. Who was he going to let down? Who was counting on him? He’d put so much time and money and planning into this event, why not just suffer for a few hours (and days afterward) and then move on?
And the reason he decided to forego the long race is because ultimately he knew that it wouldn’t serve his big picture goal, which is to be healthy and strong for the rest of his life. What would serve that goal better was to step back from plan A, do some more focused work on recovery, rebuild, and then come back to longer running with knees and other joints that are feeling great.
I’m super proud of him for that.
It’s easy to lose sight of the long game. We get caught up in whatever short-term goal we set: running a race, losing 5 pounds by the end of the month, getting that big lift, that sometimes we end up making things worse in the long term for the sake of making them better in the short term.
But fitness and health and wellness aren’t short term games. The point (at least in our eyes), isn’t to look great by 2027. It’s to be healthy and strong enough to do whatever is fun for you to do, and to be able to do it for the rest of your life.
