Always A Student

Conrad Hall once said "You are always a student, never a master. You have to keep moving forward." These words ring true for me. You are always going to learn something new and you should be open to that idea. I know that the title "master" is put on certain things when it comes to athletics or education. But to claim to be a master at something means that you know all there is or all there will be about a particular subject. Maybe some do not see it this way and you do not have to agree with me, but its how I see things. I find that life is a never ending learning experience and we always have something new to learn. One individual who I discovered through social media reminded me of this fact. On Instagram most of the people I follow are fellow runners like me. But one man caught my attention and became an inspiration to me. His name is Runnermarx and he has 25 years of running experience and 10 years of experience as a running coach. Now most people would consider an individual with those credentials to be a "master" of running. But he does not see himself this way. After reading through his bio I came across these words, "Here to educate and learn." That really spoke to me. Here was a individual with years upon years of experience running, and yet he acknowledged that he was still learning. I respected that about him and he became an inspiration to me. So this brings me back to my main point, we are and always will be students, no matter what sport, subject, or field of study. Life itself is lesson and we will always be learning from it. I go into each new day with the mind frame of learning something new. An example of a lesson that I learned took place at my last 5k. Their were a total of three hills on the course and the last hill was right at the finish line. I "kicked it" right at the bottom of the hill and was exhausted by the time I reached the crest. I was talking to Micah, who is a track coach in Texas and he explained to me that I had made a mistake. His advice was to save the "kick" for the middle of the hill, that way I would still have energy left to surge toward the finish line. I tried this during a training run and noticed a difference in how I felt when I reached the top of the hill. I still had energy left over and did not feel worn out. Always be open to learning new things, even if you feel as if you know a lot or have years of experience, you can always learn something new. You can always get better and keep moving forward.



On a side note, my friend Runnermarx who I talked about in this post is currently participating in the Runner's World Cover Photo Contest. Aside from being a teacher and student, he is also a giver. He always puts others first and does charitable work. He truly deserves this amazing opportunity! You can read more about him by clicking.here You can also vote each day as well!

                                                               Runnermarx