Because of running I have:
travelled solo to places I’ve never been
made friends with people I would not have met otherwise
challenged and replaced at least one limiting belief I’ve had since childhood
Each of these points merit their own post - today I’ll go into the third point because that’s the main driver for everything else.
Limiting belief: I’m Elizabeth, not Jessica, Wakefield. I grew up reading Sweet Valley Kids, and always gravitated towards Elizabeth because I pretty much read everything I could. You could say I patterned my choices after what Lizzie would do. This fixation progressed to an adoration of Rory Gilmore on TV and Patricia Evangelista in real life. I think up until I was an undergrad (where I selected Journalism as my degree ffs), I strongly held on to my identity as a bookworm and a nerd — we can talk Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and The Sims all day. Sports? Ugh, no. I was dismissive of any athletic endeavours because jocks and jock-like behaviour was not my (nor Elizabeth’s or Rory’s) jam.
The AHA moment: When I finished my first 10K race, I started looking with trepidation at the half-marathon and beyond. 21K seemed too much so I thought of doing a sprint triathlon instead (at that point I didn’t know how to swim, and it seemed easier to learn to swim than to double a 10K). I DNF’d my first official triathlon attempt (TTF 2014), but instead of moping after I was fished out of the water (I didn’t learn to swim the distance in time but I tried anyway), I watched the transition area and saw that these people looked ordinary…but they were doing extraordinary things. I wouldn’t be able to pick out a triathlete on the subway.
That was the start: I believed I could be one of these ordinary looking people doing extraordinary things. A year later, I did become one of them. My most favourite memory from TTF 2015 is that they referred to participants as “athletes”, and something about being called an “athlete” resonated with me. I didn’t believe I was born one or was innately gifted as one — I trained my way into becoming an athlete. How breathtakingly refreshing.
Squaring the difference by learning about fixed versus growth mindset and grit. Carol Dweck started the conversation on fixed versus growth mindset, while Angela Duckworth popularized grit as a necessary ingredient for success. Simply put, my self-identification was so rigid that it didn’t leave room for growth until I generated enough evidence to believe otherwise. I would have saved myself some anguish if I believed that who I think I am is an evolutionary process, not something immutable.
The process of adding a new layer to my identity started as a thought — what if I tried to be athletic?—and has since become a lifestyle. Fittingly, Emma Watson aka Hermione Granger has eloquently expressed a variation of this train of thought in her directorial debut for Prada:
"Boxes are always too small. I celebrate my imperfections, I do my days in joy. I'm never the same, but I'm always myself."
Evolution has never been more appealing, natural, and necessary. Falling into endurance sports as an adult was a revelation.
Trying out other hats by learning Spanish and Python. Again. This is not my first time learning these languages, but what I’ve changed is my approach. Instead of relying on the “I’m either naturally gifted at this or not” line of thinking, I’ve made a habit of learning instead. When I first started running, I just wanted to make sure I did it everyday for at least a week, then I purchased an app to guide me to my first race. James Clear laid this out so beautifully:
“If you can't learn the basic skill of showing up, then you have little hope of mastering the finer details. Instead of trying to engineer a perfect habit from the start, do the easy thing on a more consistent basis. You have to standardize before you can optimize.”
Making learning fun so I keep going back to it is key, and so is defining success as simply showing up in the early stages. I do a few minutes of Spanish every day, a bit more if I feel like it. I don’t usually get to my Python course daily while travelling, but I can knock out three in a row when I get into a groove. If I ran flat out every time when I was starting out, I don’t think I would have stuck with it. Doing it enough times so it has the potential to trigger a flow state is key for me.
In October 2013, I managed to convince a friend, a coworker, and my boss to run the Scotiabank 5K. We all made it to the finish line, but while they all considered it their “one and done” running event, it was the beginning of my keen amateur runner life. Running has been the single most influential force in my life ever since. Nearly ten years and many endurance events later, I still get nervous at start lines, dream of destination runs, and encourage others to sign up for their first race.
I’m in my “generate evidence” phase — everything is a variable, everything can be disproven and challenged — I hold no sacred cows. The life I live now because of running is completely unexpected and beyond my imagination as a kid, and for that, I am immeasurably grateful.