Volume 155: Rest in Magic 8 Ball

Wednesday morning, as usual, my Hatch alarm clock went off at 4:42 AM.

As I turned it off, I heard the sound of heavy rain... and started the typical "can I skip today?" inner dialogue.

Going back and forth, I had the thought, let me ask the Magic 8 Ball!!!

I typed in the question, "should I skip my workout this morning?" 

I pressed, "Shake the ball." 

Immediately, on the first try, it read, "YES."

I had my out!!!

But then, I remembered... the Magic 8 ball doesn't know:

That I am working towards a goal!

That I don't do well when I get off my morning routine!

That the workout wakes me up to read my Bible and journal after!

That there's a fee for skipping class!

That I never once have regretted going once I am there.

So, I got out of bed and begrudgingly walked through the rain to my car to drive to OTF. 

Low and behold, I set a PR for Tread 50!!!

Evelyn invited me to come get a cinnamon roll at Sleepy Head!

And Lauren turned to me on the tread and said, "I'm so glad you're here. You make it fun!"

Oooohh Lauren... little do you know that I had almost skipped!! 

In this world, there are always going to be distractions and voices that tell us not to show up, keeping us from reaching our goals. 

But may we have a mindset that stays focused and disciplined!

Speaking of PR's at OTF, the next morning, on Thursday, I set another. 

As I walked out of class, I turned to thank Sara and told her, "I need you as my coach for every benchmark!"

She responded, "Yeah, I need to make a chart for the other coaches that says "Morgan - make sure you push her and don't let her get away with going easy."

Earlier in the class, Sara had done just that. It was the 500m benchmark row. 

After researching and attempting the math of taking my 2,000m row time and dividing it by 4 (which is oddly so hard to do), I came to the conclusion that my goal was around 1 minute and 50 seconds. 

As soon as I told Sara that, she immediately refuted and said I need to shoot for 1:30.

"No way!!!" I thought, as I audibly gasped...

As I strapped my feed into the footplates around the widest part of my foot of course, I began to row...

It was going to be a challenge to keep my 500m split time...

But about half way through, Sara came over and began to encourage and push me. "Let's go!!! Ok only 30 more seconds!!!"

Oooh I thought to myself, "I can do anything for 30 seconds!!"

I finished in 1 minute and 32 seconds - a great time for me!! (and apparently for the whole studio!)

But, if it would have been any other day of the week with a different coach, there's a high chance I would have aimed for 1:50 and been proud of 1:48, not knowing what I was fully capable of.

There is so much power and impact in helping people believe in themselves and point out their potential. 

And nothing beats a great coach! 

- The kind who corrects your form.
- Who you straighten up when you can see they're watching in the mirror.
- Who knows your potential and pushes you to reach it.