The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)

But I Hate Running
“I’m not a runner though, Jon. In fact, I hate running. There’s no
way I could do it.”
“Come  on,  Hal—it’s  to  raise  money  for  the Front  Row
Foundation,”  Jon  Berghoff  responded.  “Look,  I  didn’t  think  I  could
do a marathon either, but once you commit to it, you’ll find a way to
make  it  happen.  And  I’m  telling  you,  it  is  truly  a  life  changing
experience!”
“I’ll think about it.”
Telling  Jon  I  would think  about  it  was  really  just  my  way  of
getting him off my back. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely believed in
and  supported  the  life-changing  work  done  by  the  Front  Row
Foundation. I had been donating money to the organization for years,
but writing a check was a little easier than running a marathon. Unless
I  was  being  chased,  I  hadn’t  intentionally  run  so  much  as  a  block  in
the 10 years since I graduated high school. And even back then I only
ran to keep from failing PE class.

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Besides,  ever  since  breaking  my  femur  and  pelvis  in  the  car
accident,  back  when  I  was  20,  I  was  always  afraid  of  what  might
happen  if  I  put  too  much  pressure  on  my  leg.  In  fact,  every  time  I
went snow skiing, I couldn’t help but have visions of me tripping and
taking a hard fall, then having the metal rod in my leg break through
the skin of my thigh. It’s a gruesome thought, but breaking your limbs
and being told you may never walk again can do that to you.
A week later after my conversation with Jon, one of my coaching
clients—Katie Fingerhut—completed her second marathon. “Hal, it’s
so amazing… I feel like I can do anything now!”
Between  Jon  and  Katie’s  enthusiastic  testimonies  for  marathon
running, I was starting to think maybe it was time for me to overcome
my  limiting  belief  about not  being  a  runner,  and  just  start  running.
Like everything else in life, if they could do it, then so could I. So I
did.
The  next  morning,  intent  on  completing  my  first  mile  on  my
journey  to  completing  a  marathon,  I  put  on  my basketball  shoes
(sound  familiar?)  and  headed  out  the  front  door  of  my  house.  I  was
actually looking forward to it! (Remember, the first few days of any
new habit are often exciting.)
Down  the  driveway  I  hustled,  motivated  and  inspired.  Onto  the
sidewalk I ran. As I stepped from the sidewalk to the street, my ankle
twisted on the curb and I collapsed. Lying on the pavement, writhing
in  pain  and  gripping  my  ankle,  I  thought  to  myself, everything
happens for a reason, so I guess today wasn’t the day for me to start
running… I’ll try again tomorrow. So I did.