Shin splints and persistence

About a mile into my run today I began to get shin splints very badly in my left leg and my left ankle also began to feel pretty unstable. I told myself that I would be able to run off the pain if I just kept running and didn't give up. Well, the pain did not go away until another mile and half. It was a grueling run until that last mile and a quarter when I began to feel very good. I have been thinking a lot lately about how my experiences in running can be related to life. Today's run and others like it teach me that life is going to suck sometimes. Things are going to be hard and there is no way to get around it, you have just got to plow through and know that no matter how hard things seem, they will become easier if persistence prevails. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes of all time by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has been improved." There are so many times in my recent life that I have faced challenges that seemed insurmountable. They were literally mountains that I felt I would never reach the summit. One of my problems lied in my own inability to ask for help when I so desperately needed it from others. I was trying to do everything alone and that is a very lonely state to be in. I also found myself lacking even the desire to work through the pain. Today was one of those days that I was busy cleaning all day and yet when I looked around I felt that I had accomplished so little. Then again, when I sit here taking inventory, I realize that I really did accomplish a lot of important things. However, during the day I kept plowing along and now I have arrived at the point where I am feeling better. It may also have something to do with my children all being asleep in their beds dreaming sweet dreams! Life is good, there is so much to be thankful for, even when things stink. Running is turning out to be one of the very best things for me. It is a therapy in its own right, and a very fulfilling one at that!