Paris Marathon COMPLETED! I am an official FINISHER!

Well I have done it.  The long awaited day has come and gone.  I am recovering for my "day after marathon" rest on the houseboat that I rented on the Seine near the base of the Eiffel Tower (THANK you AirBNB.com!), and WOW is all I can say.  WOW. 

There were times yesterday during my 6 hours and 40 minutes of running that I wanted to quit.  There were some tears.  There was some bargaining going on in my brain.  There was a massive tug-of-war going on with my emotions, with half of me and sometimes very close to ALL of me wanting, begging to quit.  Telling myself how I'd really done an amazing job so far, and I deserved to take a break.  Look, there is the support vehicle and they are waving me on to it.  See?  Other people agree with my decision to quit.  I really should.  I've done so much already, I mean who can run 17 miles at one time? 

Yes there was much bargaining going on, and at times I even BELIEVED the bargaining and it made so much SENSE for me to stop.

But I didn't.

While these battles were raging in my brain, I kept my body moving forward.  I had trained for this.  I had trained to have the mental acuity to keep taking the next step forward no matter what was happening in my brain on a cognitive level.  I had learned to detach the decision-making "rational" part of my head from what I DID, from my ACTIONS.  This is an important skill to learn.  Of course eventually my "rational" part of my brain (which was really, on retrospect, being the MOST irrational under that time of stress and fatigue) would come around and at about mile 25 the rational part of my brain was now CONGRATULATING me on a job well done instead of BEGGING me to quit.  And, even NOW, the rational part of my brain will likely take credit for accomplishing the whole thing!

And that's OK because ALL of me ran that marathon and ALL of me finished!

But I was just struck by the parallels that running a marathon have with our journeys to health.  We have those times when every logical rational though in our brains is telling us "enough already" and "just quit already, you've come so far, you've accomplished so much, isn't it time to end the torture?"

And what we do IN THOSE MOMENTS will define whether or not we will finish the race well or at all.

Secondly, redefining torture and pain was important.  I used to HATE running, and I mean HATE HATE capital H HATE it. 

Then I decided to NOT hate it.  I developed a new mindset about running, I began to see it as beneficial to me and my health, and it began to even become a joy!

The same goes for our eating plan.  We can choose to view it as a "diet" that is "torturous" and full of "deprivation" or we can choose to view it as a wonderful tool that will bring us in to optimal health if applied as directed.  A long time ago I chose the latter, to view my eating plan as a tool.  And yes, it became joyful!  And in the process, I developed a wonderful attribute.  Endurance.  Because endurance and perseverance is so important for anything we do, be it a Marathon in Paris, or whittling away that dangerous extra weight that can eventually kill us.  Endurance.

And, I noticed something about myself here in Paris.  The training paid off.  Both the Marathon Training and the Eating Plan Training.  How?  I stayed true to the eating plan that I knew would be necessary for me to prepare myself adequately for the Marathon.  This plan did NOT include baguettes with butter, croissants, crepes with Nutella, chocolates, glaces (ice creams/gelatos), but it included those things which would keep my mind and my body strong.  And it was a joy for me to say "yes" to the healthy foods.  It's how I live my life now.  Why?  Because I am a fit and healthy person, and that other junk is not my food anymore. 

So, this is it then, all that Paris Marathon preparation did pay off and I did get my "finisher" medal and T-shirt.  Yay.