This week I caught up with a friend and former employee of Endorphin Fitness, Camille Ronesi. Several years ago, Camille took a risk and decided to go back to school to become a physical therapist. As a young mother who was already far into her career, Camille spoke about the endurance it required to stick to this. She spoke with passion about how valuable it was for her to have the background as an endurance athlete to be able to get through it.
I think we all recognize that the lessons learned during training and racing have a big impact on other areas of our lives, but we can sometimes take it for granted. So, here is your reminder. The ability to suffer, stick at something when its really hard, and stay present when things seem to be falling apart around you are skills that endurance athletes simply have refined better than most. When things go south in life, we rely on these skills to get by and thrive.
Endurance makes you better at life. This is probably the biggest gift you will receive from the sport. What we learn by getting out the door to complete training on a hard day, standing on the start line with many uncertainties in front of us, and getting to the finish line on a day when everything is against you is invaluable to life. This is important to remember especially right now with the absence of races. The gift of this sport is not in crossing a finish line but rather what that teaches you about yourself.
