While running a 10k yesterday...

I was thinking about pace. It's kind of hard not to think about pace when you're running a 10k. You're aware of all the people who are running ahead of you, faster than you. You are aware of the people who are passing you, on your left and on your right. You're aware of people behind you, how many people are behind you, how far they are behind you. You are putting yourself in perspective. You're not going quite as fast as the large crowd you see turning the corner together while you're still in the middle of the first long stretch....buuuutttt you're also not as far back as all of those people behind you....so it must mean you're doing alright. The truth is.. the key to finishing the 10k for me was to find the right pace... the pace I needed in order to sustain my speed for the entirety of the race so I could finish healthily, without injury and with confidence. While I was running and thinking about the pace of the people in front of me and behind me and the pace of myself, it occurred to me that if I can find comfort in the pace I was running this race I should try and apply the same comfort in the pace in which I am living my life...which is easier said than done...but I like the idea. Another truth is while I was running this race I also (somehow) managed to pass people but some of the people who were far behind me at the beginning of the race managed to pass me at the end. I was running in a big ol' reflection of my life and the only thing that mattered to me was that I finished the race without stopping and without injury and I did just that. Mostly though, I was able to construct this new idea about living my life not just running a race. I think true happiness for me comes from living at my own pace. It may take longer for me to get to places or to accomplish goals I want to accomplish but accomplishing them quickly is not important. What is important is that I accomplish them in true genuineness..because in that sincerity is where I find the most happiness.  I can easily look back at certain instances in my life and almost instantly separate the events in which I finished hastily or settled for the sake of completion versus an event in which I paced myself and felt my way through every part of the process...almost every time I was doing things my way at my pace I was happier. 

I just want to remember that.