Bit by bit

Lately I'm finding my favorite reward for the end of a run isn't a bowl of ice cream (as it was in the past). 

It's the X.

The "X" marks off another day on my marathon schedule.

When I looked at the schedule, I admit I felt a little nervous about it. I mean, it looked like a lot. Every day, there was a task, from "easy" 3-mile runs to more punishing runs in the double-digits (yep, even early in the training; this Sunday I'll run a dozen).

But I'm also surprised at how easy it's gone. I feel good, and I haven't been walloped by any aches and pains, despite the fact that I'm already running as many miles in a week as I did when I was in my training peak for my half marathons last summer.

I'm sure the aches and pains will come - the schedule gets considerably tougher as it goes on, and three 20-mile runs lie in wait - but so far I'm relieved that my only-somewhat athletic body is taking the punishment.

The lesson is I have a tendency to look at a large project as a whole, and when I do that, the monster lurks over my shoulder and stresses me out. Professionally this was never a problem - I've completed stories that took me a year to report and write - but privately I'd always manage to raise my blood pressure with something as simple as, say, getting carpet installed in the basement.

I'm keeping the plan after I've Xed out all the squares and, I hope, completed the marathon. It'll be a nice reminder that huge tasks are tackled a day at a time. As we wonder what we can do to help not only our own hurting country but a devastated Haiti, it's a lesson we'll need to repeat to ourselves a lot these next few months.