The prize will not be sent to you. you have to go win it.

​One of the many things running has taught me is this: no one is sending us our prizes in this world.

When it comes to prizes, I figure we're in one of three places:

We've given up on the prize; for many reasons we don't believe it will ever be ours.

We believe in the prize, but we're waiting for it to magically show up in our lives.

Or - we are so sure the prize will be ours that we're out there working our way toward it every single day.

Life BR (before running), I think I spent a lot of time in that second space. The space of waiting and wishing. This space of knowing and believing I have gifts and talents that are unique to me, and capable of bringing unique gifts to the world, yet, a space I was far more comfortable living in than working in.

After all, dreaming is so much easier than doing.

On our recent trip, my boys were talking about all the ideas people have gotten rich from, ideas my boys just know they could have come up with. I told them ideas aren't game changers. Being willing to leave the space where ideas are made to live in a space where people work on making ideas real - that's the game changer.

The willingness to leave wishing and dreaming to begin the work of dream pursuing - that's the game changer.

I love the life metaphor of running. I love the sequence of it all. This idea that we all start with some level of 'I could never do that.' But for some reason we just can't stop imagining that prize at the finish line - it won't let go of us.

It won't quit telling us 'yes you can do that.'

Then one day we believe it. And we start running, day after day, until we are standing there at the finish line - someone handing us the prize we have won.

The prize that says you have gone from 'I could never do that' to 'you just did it.'

We walk away with the prize, but the prize is much bigger than the medal or the trophy or the blanket. We will set those prizes on a rack or a shelf. We will look at them from time to time. And when we do, I hope you hear your prizes say what I hear mine say.

There are more prizes out there. But Amazon's not delivering them. You have to go get them.

You have to put in the labor.

Labor is the difference between dreams that die and dreams that come true.

Labor is the difference between wishing and living.

Labor is the difference between the gifts that haunt you and the gifts the light up the world.

So go put in the labor. Go light up the world.