America by Heart

Author:Sarah Palin [Palin, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-12-01T05:00:00+00:00

Six

Are We Really the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For?

Everyone who has reached deep down to find the will to run one more mile or press one more set knows the feeling. You never forget that moment: the moment when you kept going even when you thought you couldn’t; the moment when you didn’t give up even though every nerve ending in your body was screaming for you to stop. That moment stays with you forever and it changes you. It literally redefines the possible for you. You become more for having experienced it. Maybe you don’t go on to win the race, but you have a much more important victory: a victory over self-doubt and self-imposed limitations. A victory for the possible.

I come from a family of runners. Running is something you don’t have to be particularly talented or coordinated to do—which is why I do it! You just put on your shoes and go. And the road, I’ve found, holds some important life lessons. It may sound odd, but I’ve discovered that one of the main sources I can draw on to teach my son Trig to overcome the challenges he faces are the lessons I’ve gleaned from a life-long love of athletics.

Over the years, I’ve learned that the real benefit of sports isn’t the glory of victory or the glow of physical fitness, although these are great things. The real benefit comes from that moment when you find in yourself the strength to do something you never thought you could. More than most, Trig will encounter challenges in his life. He will need to find that strength. For my entire life, running and playing sports have helped me find it for myself. Now it’s helping me help Trig push beyond the limits society will inevitably set for him.

The first of the life lessons I’ve learned on the road, and that Todd and I will work hard to teach Trig, is to take things one step, and one day, at a time.

Take the moment when you start training for a marathon. You can think only about the first mile. It’s impossible to look all the way down the endless road and find the will to finish. You have to pick a point—a fence post, a mailbox, or, in my case, a snowdrift—and stay focused. If you don’t, the challenge will feel too big. You’ll lose your determination in the face of the sheer magnitude of your ultimate goal.

I learned this the summer Track got his driver’s license. I was training for a marathon that year. On lucky days, he drove the route ahead of me, placing water bottles and notes of encouragement at points along the way.

Mile 1: “Run, Mom! Love ya!”

Mile 2: “Don’t give up!”

Mile 3: “You’re OLD—but you can do it!”

Ah, the love of a sixteen-year-old.

That summer, I ran note to note, water bottle to water bottle. I’d get tired or thirsty and I’d think, Just make it to the next one. Track taught me the trick of tackling the big things: Take it one mile, one note, one step at a time.

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