I realize you may be kidding because you’re referring to a dream, but I must point out that I am not by any means naturally athletic. You can call me an athlete if you wish (weird), but it has definitely not come to me naturally.

I am terrible at organized sports, I’m a slow and uncoordinated runner, and I’m relatively weak.  I’m not trying to be negative or self-deprecating, but it’s for the most part true.  I realize we all have our moments, but I’ll likely never be the girl that can place in her age group at races, the MVP of any team, or particularly good at lifting or CrossFit (at least by “normal” standards).  I don’t build muscle quickly, and my strength is slow to improve.  My average running pace has gotten faster, but only by about a minute or so over the past year.

While I am incredibly happy with where the past year has brought me (I RAN A MARATHON), the rate of my improvements may be enough to discourage some people.  Having put in so much time and effort into training, I could see how it may be frustrating not to see tangible and quantitative improvements all the time, but that’s okay with me. Mostly because I’m incredibly stubborn.  And I’m pretty sure you’re mistaking my stubbornness for natural athleticism.

What I lack in natural ability, I make up for with my mental toughness (read: STUBBORN*) and high pain tolerance.  I just don’t really believe in stopping.  This transfers incredibly well for distance running and CrossFitting, where you just don’t stop until you’re done.  I don’t care how long it takes me, all I really care about is finishing what I started.