Have you ever had an event on your calendar that you wished wasn’t going to happen?
You know it’s coming up, and every time you think of it, your heart sinks.
I just experienced an event I was dreading.
Here’s the backstory – in February of this year, I went to a fun torchlight parade party at our local ski area. (For those of you not familiar, torchlight parades are where skiers come down the mountain with torches, after dark, creating a stunning spectacle of lights). I had a lot of friends there, and after a couple of beers, I enthusiastically said YES! to joining in on an ultra relay in the summer. It was 100 miles, and the length we would run would depend on how many of us ended up running.
The smart leader of the relay team knew enough to get at least 10 resounding yeses that night, knowing maybe 1 or 2 would follow through.
Then I promptly forgot about it.
Months later, I ran into the team leader’s sister (while out trail running, naturally), and she said, “Carly, are you still in for the 100 mile relay?” Knowing I’d already given my word, I told her, “Of course I am! Send me the link, I’ll make sure I’m on the team!”
It sounds like something I’d be totally into, right?
But here’s the thing…I almost always run alone, because running for me is such a solo treat. While I come across as super outgoing, I get nervous meeting new people. I know I can make small talk, but it’s something I have to push myself to do. A relay race of a hundred miles over the course of hours, in a van, with nearly all people I didn’t know, was like a special nightmare dreamed up for me.
I dreaded it so much, I did absolutely NO research on the race. It’s called the 100 on 100 relay, and up until 2 weeks beforehand I thought it was a trail race on the Vermont 100 miler course.
It’s not.
It’s a hundred miles of road running on Route 100.
I ended up getting only about 3 road runs in as training before the race, since all my running these days is on trails. I finalized my travel plans literally the afternoon before, with my partner agreeing to get up with me at 3am, and drive me to Stowe for the 5am start.
Maybe you’ve guessed where this is going.
I LOVED every single minute of it.
We had a beautiful day, and the weather was perfect for running. Our team was comprised of smart, funny, thoughtful, interesting people who were a joy to spend a day with. Each stage just seemed to fly by, whether I was in the van, eating, joking, and heading to the next transition area, or when I was running, enjoying the most spectacular scenery. (Seriously, if you haven’t experienced summer in Vermont, it’s breathtakingly beautiful).
I ended the day after nearly 23 miles altogether, full of happiness and gratitude for the experience. And of course I came home announcing I wanted to run that relay every single year, because I loved it so much, and no one was surprised that I’d had such a blast.
All this to tell you, pushing past your comfort zone is SO worth it.
When you dread something, when you feel like it’s overwhelming, and scary, and you worry that you’ll hate it, or be bad at it, or regret it…do it anyway.
One of two things will happen. It will either be as bad as your overthinking brain thought it was going to be. OR (and this is much more likely), it will be a rewarding experience you’ll be thankful for, for a long time.
You can do hard things.
You can push past your conceived notions of what you’re capable of, or good at.
Trying a new experience will never be something you regret.
Leave me a comment, or send me a note to tell me if you’ve ever gone way out of your comfort zone, or if this resonates with you. And please feel free to add me on Facebook, I’d love to be connected!
