In my young twenties I was challenged to run the Philadelphia marathon two weeks before the race. I never ran more than two miles in my life. I was super fit, but didn't know if I could run that far. I did a 5 mile training run, and was so excited to run 5 miles....looking back I must have been an idiot for my excitement, since I needed to run 26.2 miles! A few days later I ran 7.5 miles, then I did 10 miles the next week. I tried for 15 but I was not feeling right so I stopped short.

I had three training runs of 5, 7.5, and 10 miles. I recalled a quote from a fiend, "on any given day you can run 3 times what you can do on an average day". Unfortunately, I didn't know what this meant, was my 10 mile run 3 times my normal, or could I run 30 miles??? I was confused, but I raced and finished the marathon. 

Over the years I have found that I am capable of doing much more than I ever imagined. My mind holds me back. Eventually, I saw a speaker on the rule of thirds. Once you are exhausted, finished, done....you are only 1/3 done. You still have 2/3 left in the tank. All that is needed is to not give up, not stop, and persevere. Try it and share your stories.