Peter Fletcher

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Leaning Into The Pain

January 28, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

A couple kissing

There’s a point on Jacob’s Ladder where the pain in my legs feels sharp and red and hot. It always happens on the first lap, before I’ve broken a sweat and way before I’m up to full speed. It happens again on lap 6 and sometimes on 16.

It’s a pain that asks why and raises doubts. Why are you doing this? Are you sure you’re not going to give yourself an injury? Have the day off. There’s always tomorrow. The pain and the doubts are like a bickering husband and wife, one needling, the other nagging.

When I’m going hard the needling and nagging stop. Gone is the anxiety and the doubt. All that’s left are the steps and the heavy, rhythmic breathing; and the pain. It’s still there but it no longer hurts. It’s not frightening or scary and it’s there with no doubt.

It simply exists. As I lean into the pain the fear goes away. In its place is an intimacy, where the sweating and the breathing and the burning become one.

It’s at that point I feel invincible and courageous, as if nothing and no-one could defeat me.

Perhaps it’s passing through the wall that runners experience. Perhaps it’s endorphins and chemicals.

But for me it’s something more, like when resistance dissolves and two people lean in for their first kiss. When the mind and the voices stop, when the body and the moment and the experience is all that there is.

And it all happens when I lean into the pain.

Photo credit:: DavidMartynHunt on Flickr

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Filed Under: Personal Tagged With: 5000 laps, endorphins, Jacob's Ladder, pain

Comments

  1. Tamikaheiden says

    January 28, 2011 at 10:16 am

    That feeling sounds very familiar….except I an usually trying to keep up with the bunch. Great post Peter.

  2. Peter Fletcher says

    January 30, 2011 at 1:18 pm

    Thanks Super T.

Trackbacks

  1. The Anatomy of a 20 Lap Effort on Jacob's Ladder | Peter Fletcher. New media strategist. says:
    February 18, 2011 at 11:29 am

    […] I took it very easy on lap 1 and then to a lesser degree on lap 2. I really don’t enjoy lap 1 and find it very hard to lean into the pain. […]

  2. What's your tempo? | Peter Fletcher says:
    April 6, 2014 at 8:47 pm

    […] very hard. Not only must you have great technique but you also need to cultivate the ability to lean into the pain, to settle in to the new sensations of burning lungs and jelly legs or whatever it is that you go […]

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Speaker, trainer and coach. I write about living, loving and working better. Love a challenge. More...

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