Super Awesome You - Achieve your goals and conquer your motivation

"I can do hard things" - What running my first marathon taught me about life's big challenges

• Super Awesome Mix • Season 3 • Episode 1

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Ever wondered what it takes to transform a simple decision into an extraordinary achievement? Join me, Sam, as I recount my journey of running the New York City Marathon for the first time. You'll hear about the rigorous two-year preparation, the shift in diet and lifestyle, and the unwavering commitment to a goal that seemed daunting at first. It’s a tale that underscores the power of taking that first step toward any dream and the immense satisfaction that awaits at the finish line.

As I faced the marathon's grueling demands, mental and physical barriers loomed large. These challenges tested my resilience and sparked an empowering realization—I had the strength to push through. Supported by friends and family, I adopted strategies to overcome fatigue and emerged with a profound sense of accomplishment. This episode doesn't just share a personal story but offers a universal metaphor for tackling life's big endeavors, inspiring listeners to conquer their ambitions with confidence and perseverance.

With the excitement of crossing the marathon finish line still fresh, I draw parallels to another passion—podcasting. Launching and maintaining a show comes with its own set of challenges, much like training for a marathon. As we gear up for season three, I invite you to reflect on personal goals that align with your core values. Together, let's explore themes of motivation and discipline, celebrate each other's accomplishments, and embrace the journey ahead with gratitude and determination. Follow along and engage on social media for updates and inspiration, where we'll continue to support and uplift one another in our quests for success.

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Sam:

I can do hard things. Hi, my name is Sam Abousalbi. I'm the host of the show Super Awesome you. You can find more of the show's content at Super Awesome you on Instagram and on threads. Super Awesome you is part of the Super Awesome Mix podcast network. You can find more of my content alongside my co-hosts, matt and Jen, at Super Awesome Mix Podcast Network. You can find more of my content alongside my co-hosts, matt and Jen, at Super Awesome Mix. If you are interested in the show, please be sure to follow, subscribe, like, review, do all the things so that more people can find this podcast and we can all be a little bit more super awesome. We can all be a little bit more super awesome so I can do hard things.

Sam:

That is the very first and, to be honest, only thing so far I have written about my experience of running the New York City Marathon last month. I ran it on November 3rd. It was the very first marathon I have ever run and I'm very grateful that I was able to run it in New York City, my hometown here for the last seven plus years and it is still, to date, a life changing experience. There are a lot of people who run actually know there's not a lot of people who run marathons it's it's less than 1% of the population. But I will say that people who run marathons let everyone in the world know that they have run them. And I get it because it's hard and the lesson that I have taken away from it well beyond anything about running or your physical fitness or anything like that. It's not about the act of running it, because that's just a whole other world. But the overarching lesson I've taken is that I can do hard things, because it is a tremendously hard thing to do and, to be honest, I don't think I fully appreciated just how difficult it would be, both mentally and physically. You have to train for a minimum of 16 weeks for your first one. I'd say 12 to 16 weeks is about average. I also have been running all the qualifying races for the past two years to even get into the 2024 New York City Marathon.

Sam:

As a result of running all the miles that I did, I had to change my diet, I had to change my sleep, I had to add in strength training and work with a trainer. I had to learn a whole lot about my body's mechanics and how it works and when it doesn't work why it's not working. It was truly a huge, huge commitment to show up on that day and be able to reach the start line and then, of course, reach the finish line. And that has been such an interesting lesson of that commitment that I made to myself, because I wasn't running it for anyone else. I wasn't running it for a cause, like a lot of people do, which is admirable and amazing, but for me it was just something that I had said over 10 years ago that I wanted to do, and then I did nothing about it. It was always something I pointed to way off in the distance and being like I want to do that someday or I want to do that, and then just taking no action on it. And a little over two years ago I saw my friend running his fifth or sixth one in New York and I again pointed to that and I said I want to do that, except this time.

Sam:

I went home that day and I immediately signed up for the next available race that the organization New York Roadrunners puts on and was committed to running a race. Now it was a four mile race, it was in the park and that small little action that I took that first step of signing myself up for a race, all of a sudden kicked into motion a bunch of other things I needed to do, because now it was like, oh well, man, I've got of other things I needed to do. Because now it's like, oh well, man, I've got to run. I have to actually show up and run this thing. So I probably need better running shoes. I actually have no idea what shoes I ran those in, to be honest, which is a very funny thing now, because I'm obsessed with running shoes and I have way too many. I really have become the stereotypical runner, but I don't know what running shoes I ran in them. I don't remember what my outfit was, but I imagine that my wife took a picture of me at the end of the race, so maybe I can go check that out.

Sam:

Um, and you know, I hadn't changed my diet yet, but I started to run. I started to just kind of show up and run, and then it just kept going from there. I signed up for more races, I signed up for half marathons, and then it just kept going from there. I signed up for more races, I signed up for half marathons, I trained for those, I hired a personal trainer, I started going to the gym, I again changed my sleep and everything. Fast forward two years, which is, like you know, an easy statement to say fast forward two years. But it was two years of a lot of miles and a lot of work, and I ran the thing, and so I'm just still in awe of my ability and, as a result, all of humankind's ability, to set an audacious goal, a goal that seems impossible for such a long amount of time, and then actually to achieve that goal, and what a thrill it is to do it.

Sam:

I was so emotional at the end of the finish line. To be honest, I was so emotional during the entire race I almost cried, probably seven or eight times during the race itself, because, a I couldn't believe that was happening. B I hit a wall, like every, like a lot of other first timers do, and I also underappreciated, um and and didn't respect what it really meant to hit a wall. I had read everyone you know accounts of everyone hitting a wall and I literally this is the universe telling me to, you know, have keep my ego in check. But I went into. This is the universe telling me to, you know, have, keep my ego in check. But I went into this race being like I'm not going to hit one, I'm going to be fine, like that's, that's the thing that happens to other people. And boy was I wrong.

Sam:

Mile 18 came around and I legitimately thought I was going to quit. I started to true, truly believe I was going to just have to walk off. I got my phone out. I was ready to call my wife and my family and just say I'm sorry, I just can't. Everything in my body was telling me to stop and to just exit the course and try again next year, and it would be okay. That voice just started to build momentum and it snowballed. That's the thing, that first little voice in your mind that we've talked about on the show previously that says something comforting, like hey, you know you can just stop. And then you pay a little bit more attention to it. And I started to pay attention to it exclusively and it became a roaring crowd in my mind and it replaced the literal roaring crowd on First Avenue that was cheering me to continue. And all I could hear instead was my own internal voice, my brain, saying like you're not going to be able to finish this. You should just stop, and wouldn't it feel? It's going to feel so good to stop like you have. You know, you're only a mile 18. You've, you've got another eight miles to go. You're not going to be able to do it.

Sam:

And what was so fascinating, too, as I reflected back on that moment again and again over the last month, is everything motivational that I know and read and consume was gone. I couldn't remember anything. I didn't. My mantras disappeared, my check-in with myself disappeared, I mean, my, my reason for even being out there disappeared. All I could hear was my brain telling me to stop, and I'm so grateful that I found a way to not listen to it, because, in fact, I could finish and I did finish, and I think what happened was, you know, again, I was just listening to my voice telling me to stop.

Sam:

I started to walk at this point because I had been running prior to it, but I was like I'm just, I'm going to walk until I figure this out. So I was walking and then finally, thank goodness, another voice popped in my head and it was like why don't you do a check-in with yourself? This is something that I do on runs as short as 5Ks, all the way up to, you know, my 19 mile training runs where I will just randomly check in with myself and I will do a head to toe body scan, very similar to what they do in a lot of meditations, where I'm literally being like okay, how's my head? Oh, head feels fine. How's my neck? Neck feels comfortable. Shoulders are okay. They were up, I'm going to bring them back down. Arms are nice and loose. They're by my side. Hands are, you know, in kind of that potato chip holding position. Core is tight, you know, abs are tucked in, legs feel fine, like my knees are holding up.

Sam:

And you know I had this whole scare going into this because I had an IT band injury. But my knees felt fine and my calf muscles were okay, they weren't tight. Achilles felt good, my feet were doing fine. And at the end of that I was like, oh, and let me check my heart rate. So you know, I looked down on my watch and I just see my heart rate and even that had settled and was in a very comfortable range, because at this point I'd been walking for close to a mile.

Sam:

You know, debating this whole thing of whether or not to stop, and then thank goodness again that, having done that check-in and realizing that my heart rate was fine and my body felt okay, I knew suddenly, I just knew that really what was telling me to stop was that central governor, right, that part of your brain where it's sounding the alarm because it's concerned that you're going to run out of energy and fall over flat. And I was like, right, I'm actually doing okay, so why don't I just try? I can walk for as long as I want. And you know, I even texted my family, my friends who were out on the sidelines there cheering me on, and I just said I'm starting to walk. I'm going to be a little bit later than planned. Everyone was so supportive. They were like we see a lot of people walking, it's okay. Like, just keep going, keep going.

Sam:

And I started, you know, I walked for a little bit more and then I thought I can probably run a little bit, and so I ran a little bit and then I would walk some more and I'd run a little bit more. And that is how I brought myself to the finish. And I knew that the very, very last part, the last part in the in the park after you exit central park South, very last part, the last part in the park after you exit Central Park South and you're hooking that right turn and you've got a little under a half mile to go, I was like I'm going to run this part, it doesn't matter, I know how tired I am, but I want to finish this thing running. And so I just started to run and everything melted away and I allowed myself to be in that moment with a crowd, noise and just the feeling of awe that I was here, that I had actually just accomplished at that point you know, 25 and a half miles and I had just a little bit more to go. The air, and just this genuine feeling of awe and accomplishment that again, I still get. I still get chills thinking about today as I recall that moment.

Sam:

And ever since then, everything else in my life has started to feel a little bit easier and Because, again, I just keep telling myself, wow, I can do hard things and I'm surprised at that. Right, and I think that that's something that's so amazing about any kind of a project in our life, anything that is a marathon, from it being literally a marathon to it being a metaphorical marathon, like starting a company or launching a podcast or building a social media audience or, you know, growing a newsletter to be able to sustain you as a part-time gig or getting your dream job, anything like that. That takes a lot of effort and then has this moment where you feel like you've done it. You should really be proud of yourself and realize that, like that same skill set, that same brain, that same body that got you there, you can turn that thing around after a little bit of rest and point it in a new goal and keep going and you can achieve other amazing things because you've already proven to yourself hopefully right, you really take this stock in that you can do difficult things. It's an amazing feeling and, like I said, it's one that has made me think, stop and think about other parts of my life and, quite frankly, it's why I'm here talking to you today again, because the show has been on a hiatus and for a while I thought that I didn't even want to continue with it because it was difficult it. You know it's.

Sam:

It's hard to launch a podcast. It's hard to record weekly or biweekly Even. It's hard to launch a podcast. It's hard to record weekly or bi-weekly even. It's hard to post on social media about it and generate content and, you know, on top of all the other responsibilities I have in my life, it's a hard thing to do. It's also hard to be, you know, a voice in a sea of voices doing something similar and it's really easy to just kind of discount the work because I'm not, you know, mel Robbins or Jay Shetty who's got already millions of followers, and you look at that and you're like, oh, they're so far ahead, like who am I? And you just want to pack up and leave.

Sam:

But I'm again just thinking back to my marathon experience of, like I'm an amateur runner. Right, there were people that that ran that thing in. You know, two hours and five minutes. I was close to the winning time and I'm out there at this point because I hit that wall. I you know I was at like hour five and I still had 30 minutes left to go. You know I didn't know that yet at the time, but my, you know, finish time was five and a half hours to get this thing done because I was just in so much pain trying to cross the finish line. But that didn't matter to me. What mattered to me is that I was living my kind of like core values and I had done something that I didn't think I could do, and it honestly didn't matter that other people had done it in two hours, that they could have run more. You know almost three of them in the time it took me to do one, because it was just about my personal accomplishment. It was about living, you know, being aligned with my values and what was important to me.

Sam:

So I think this holiday season you know, winter is always a really good time to kind of be a little bit more introverted and to check in with yourself, and that's why, you know, new year goals are a thing and why we tend to project forward into the next year and have all these ideas about who we want to be at the end of next year. As you do that, really think about what values matter to you. What are you hoping to do where the end result almost doesn't matter? At least the external end result doesn't matter, right? It doesn't matter if you're getting a medal or an award or you have a million follower account or you've got a million dollars in your bank account. What really matters is that you set a goal and you worked towards it and you stayed committed to it and despite all the ups and downs along the way, you didn't falter and you worked towards it and you stayed committed to it and, despite all the ups and downs along the way, you didn't falter and you found your way to your finish line. However you define that finish line for you for this next year and five years or whatever the goal is, that is what matters most. That is the magic of achievement. It's not about the external rewards those will come but what really matters is that internal goal setting and that internal goal achieving.

Sam:

I am so proud of myself for saying that I want to do this thing and then spending two years working towards it and then doing the thing. And I hope that whatever you plan to do this next year hopefully enriching your life and enriching the life of others along the way you stay committed and you remember to do that check-in with yourself whenever things are hard, you know, do the body scan, do the mental scan, do the external environment scan and just take a moment to kind of realize like, yes, I'm tired but I can keep going. And this is important to me. And here's why it's important to me, because whenever you do finally reach that point, you're going to feel so freaking good and it's going to be worth all the trial and tribulation and you're going to be able to talk about it to everyone in your life and by all means you should. You should talk about it. You should talk about it until people don't want to hear you talk about it anymore, because there are so many people in this life that do not achieve the thing that they want to go for and there's very few that do, and you put in the work you deserve to talk about it. So I'm here in your corner being like tell everyone, tell me, like send me a message at super awesome you.

Sam:

You know, when you have accomplished something that you were really proud of, find me on threads and you know, tag me and tell me all about it. I will celebrate you and I will cheer you on, because, again, there's fewer people out there setting the goals and then, more importantly, meeting the goals than there are people who either don't set the goals or just don't even bother once they set them. And again, I've been that person for most of my life. So it's not a judgment, it's just the reality that doing this stuff is difficult and there's a million reasons why you will want to quit, so the fact that you don't is worth celebrating.

Sam:

That is all the time for this first episode, and I'm so grateful for you to be listening Again. If you found this helpful and you are excited for season three, same as me, please be sure to follow and share this with some friends and family, and on social media, be sure to tag me at super awesome you. I am so excited for season three and hopefully I'll be able to bring on some guests and I will be talking again all about kind of the experience and the science and the interesting parts about motivation, inspiration, discipline, meditation, presence all these strong values that I have in my life that I think have helped me a lot and hopefully will help you too. So with that, I hope you have a super awesome week yourself and I will see you soon.

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Sam Abousalbi

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