GRACE is defined in a few different ways: unmerited divine assistance; elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action; and probably my favorite: courteous goodwill. And one of the gifts of running, for me, was finding GRACE for myself.
One of the things that running exposed to me, about me, is how hard I can be on myself. Like, ouch, holy smokes, Diane! hard on myself. Especially in the beginning, I was relentlessly critical. It wasn't easy for me to celebrate the wins, but it was very easy for me to focus on what I had not done or what I could not do. It was very easy for me to look outside my lane at what other people were doing, but not as easy for me to stay focused on myself, so much so that I tripped over things that I would not have if my eyes had been on my own road. My attitude was off, my gratitude was spotty. I did have a lot of support; and a lot of external encouragement and accountability. I worked hard. I had big goals...So, what was missing? Kindness was missing. Gratitude was missing. A step back to acknowledge all of the work was missing. Courteous goodwill for myself...GRACE. I needed breathing, and acceptance, and generosity towards myself in the same measure as I bring the drive, and the learning; the hustle and the grind.
Like every one of these gifts of running, GRACE is a work in progress. And with practice, it comes a little more easily with every setback and every struggle. More often than not, I jump to curiosity instead of frustration when I hit an obstacle, now, and that's GRACE in action.