Every once in awhile take a peek at how far you've already come

​A couple of years ago, I ran the 37-mile Georgia Jewel. I spent all day wondering if I'd be able to finish that race. I was plenty determined, but never truly confident.

This morning I'm wondering if my approach wasn't a little off that day. I'm wondering if it hasn't been a little off in all the long races I've ever run.

In these races, my focus has always been on the finish line. In fact, at the Jewel that day, I got a shot of energy when I turned around at the half-way mark and headed back toward the finish line. There was this feeling of 'now I have less distance to go than I've already come.'

It's a psychological math game I frequently play in my distance running.

You know something I have never once done in all my years of running? I have never once stopped in the middle of the trail or the road and physically looked back at that starting line. Looked back and given myself the chance to acknowledge - Keith, look how stinkin far you've come.

Yes, three miles into a 37-mile race you still have 34 miles to go. But you know what - you HAVE already covered three hard miles.

I finished the race that day. After crossing the finish line I plopped down in a chair. It had been eleven long hours on my feet, and for the first time all day, I was allowing myself to feel and honor how far I'd come.

I'm wondering if should have stopped a little more often that day to honor how far I'd come. I wonder if it might have been helpful to every once in a while take my eyes off where I was going to find strength in where I had already been. Like quite literally - STOP and absorb the strength there.

My life has changed a lot the last several years. In response to those changes, I have dreams and visions of where I long for this life to go. And because I have them, and some of them are quite vivid, there are days it can feel like I'm a zillion miles away from getting there. It can feel like I'm not at the halfway mark. It can feel like I have a lot further to go than I've already come.

The psychological math on this one can be intimidating.

But this morning, I am stopping. I am taking a peek back at these last several years. Not to dwell on them or to get lost in them or to be turned upside down by them. But to honor the reality that I HAVE traveled those years. And I am standing here, determined if not confident, in where I am going.

For a moment, I refuse to be shaken by an uncertain finish line. Instead, I am looking back with unshakable certainty on the footsteps that are telling the story of how far I've already come. Those footsteps - more than anything ever could - those footsteps begin to trample the uncertainty that riddles the path ahead.

I'm not waiting to get to the finish line to honor how far I've come. I'm doing that today. I'm not waiting to sit in a chair to feel the strength of victory; that strength is there for the taking today.

You do the same. You stop today and pause and take a peek at your past. Don't dwell in it. Don't get lost in it. Don't be turned upside down by it. But do honor how stinkin far you've already come. Because you have. Take a good hard look at the footsteps that YOU have created.

Honor them and you. Then turn back around. And march on....

Determined AND confident.