Just Keep Swimming

Perseverance. noun

1. steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

So for a girl who runs 10 miles for fun you'd think that this perseverance thing would be old news for me. You always hear quotes about running with perseverance, or the perseverance of a long distance runner. I admit it-I thought I knew what it meant too. But what I learned is that until recently I didn't even have a grasp of what it truly means to persevere.

Running is something that I love to do. Something I enjoy. So in a sense it's not about persevering. Why? Look at the definition above. There's no obstacles. There's no discouragement. There's just a girl and her love of running.

So rewind three months. In November, three days after NCAA National Cross Country championships I was out on a run when my Iliotibial band stopped working completely. This is not an exaggeration. All of a sudden I rounded a corner and felt a stabbing pain, and I knew that the last mile home would be a walk.
Perseverance.

After that I was banned to pool workouts. Swimming laps? Me? No thanks. At first I could only swim for 20 minutes at a time. It was so boring with no music, no other people. Just you and that black stripe that runs down each lane. Slowly....slowly but surely I got the hang of it. All of a sudden I found myself able to swim 40 minutes at a time. I learned that there's rhythm to swimming, and a peacefulness that comes with the silence. One sunny morning over Christmas break I was swimming at my local high school's pool. I saw a sign hanging up that read "Iron man Challenge: 88 laps= 2.4 miles". An obsession took hold and I found myself in that water, unwilling to get out until all 88 laps had been completed. An hour and a half later I dragged my poor body out of the pool feeling just as exhilarated as any 10 mile run.

Perseverance.

True perseverance is not found when you do something you love. You don't need it when things are easy, you don't need it in times of happiness. It comes into play when you, like me, find yourself looking at an impossible task to overcome: may it be sickness, may it relationship problems, may it be an internal struggle with yourself, may it be having 87 laps left in a pool workout. We all have our mountains to climb. One of mine was teaching myself to just keep swimming. Not just in the pool, but in life as well.

Perseverance.

Life is not easy and it's never going to be. However, it's a matter of learning to keep going, keep swimming, keep persevering. Because as long as we keep going, it will eventually come to pass. If you just keep pushing through, soon enough you'll be able to look back and see what you have accomplished, what you have conquered. Sickness will heal, broken hearts will mend, you'll get to start running again.

Perseverance.