The Boston Marathon was today, and for the first time in 33 years an American was the first woman across the finish line. In a 33-degree windchill with gusts surpassing 20 miles per hour, Desiree Linden completed the 26.2-mile trek in 2 hours, 39 minutes and 54 seconds, more than four minutes head of second-place finisher, fellow American Sarah Sellers.
This means Linden beat the Boston Marathon’s second best runner by two-thirds of a mile.
For a point of reference, Japan’s Yuki Kawauchi won the men’s marathon by two and a half minutes.
Anyway, we bring you to a tweet Linden sent a month and a half ago.
Some days it just flows and I feel like I’m born to do this, other days it feels like I’m trudging through hell. Every day I make the choice to show up and see what I’ve got, and to try and be better.
My advice: keep showing up.#MondayMotivaton #TogetherForward
— des_linden (@des_linden) March 5, 2018
If the best in the world at her craft feels like she is, in her words, trudging through hell at that very same craft she happens to be better than 99.999999 percent of the population at, that gives all of us permission to feel similar feelings in our own work.
But just doesn’t mean she gives into them. No, she acknowledges those low moments, she pushes them aside, and she keeps running.
