Finding Your Stride

Running is a part of my weekly cross-training regimen. Usually the first few minutes are laborious. My knees are creaking, my back is saying to me "is this really what you want to do?," and my stride feels like I'm working too hard. But, after five minutes or so, everything seems to gel and I find the right pace, the right rhythm, the right breathing -- I find my stride. From that point on, for the next thirty to sixty minutes, I feel great. My body tells me when to walk a bit, when to run fast and when to jog. The entire time I'm in the zone. When my body's done, I know that too. I'm careful to make sure I push myself, but not so hard that I overdo it. I go hard enough to progress and achieve my personal fitness goals. It's also important to find your stride in other facets of your life. I've found that finding my stride is easy when I pay attention to what my body and my spirit are telling me. It works in working out, it works at work, it works in relationships. I just turned 45 and right now I feel like my stride is pretty good in most areas of my life. There are some areas that I'm still working on, of course, but I'm "striding" much better now than I was ten years ago. Prayer, meditation, getting advice from wise people and listening more than I speak are all things I do to find my stride in areas of life outside of physical training. If things are not working well at work, in relationships or even in your physical health, there are things you can do to change that and find your stride. Just like slowing my pace slightly when I can't catch my breath is better for me than stopping altogether, there are things I also do to make adjustments in other areas of life to get in stride and stay in stride. Today, pay attention to what works and focus on those things. For example, if I eat pepperoni pizza at 11 pm and then go to sleep, it's a guarantee that I'll wake up with severe heartburn around 2 am. So, I have chosen to make sure that I don't eat pepperoni pizza late at night (or any other time, for that matter). I also make sure to eat salmon and tuna a couple of times a week because my body tells me that those things are good for me. Focus on what's working and you'll find your stride. Got a good story about finding your stride? Share it with me! I'd love to hear from you.