The Art of Tolerating Pain

As the years have progressed I like to look at myself as a regular endurer of pain. I have done the same thing many times that results in me being incredibly sore, which is majorly stupid. Right? But still, being stupid does have its benefits.
I remember a time when I was out of shape and the first day of cross country freshman year of high school was one of the most eye opening experiences. Not monumental in retrospect but at the time all that was going through my head was, "Wow. Who knew that high school sport workouts were such a HUGE step-up from middle school?" Of course I expected a difference in intensity, but it still surprised me. It was too bad in reality. I had my older sister (who was a senior at the time) to ask a whole bunch of questions and complain to. But she was actually pretty good already, don't ask me how because I don't believe she ran too terribly much.
The second day came and the coaches got down to the more intense stuff, or so it seemed for a terrified little incoming freshman. I wasn't too bad for a freshman that hadn't run most of the summer, which made me feel better about myself and I had a friend that was the same level as me and we complained together. It's quite nice to have someone to complain with. Mutual pain is much more bearable than pain by yourself. Let me tell you how much that helped.
So the next day I heard my alarm go off, startled by the obnoxious buzzing noise of it vibrating on my bookcase. And as soon as I moved to sit up I felt it. One of the worst pains I had ever experienced. My back ached, muscles crying out to stop moving and return to bed. I gathered my foggy wits and decided that my back muscles hurting was okay. I could deal with that. So I moved to swing my legs over the side of the bed, the buzzing still insistent in the background and I felt it again. My thighs, hamstrings, calves, hips. They all cried out in pain, screaming to my nerves that I should just stop being motivated. Screw the alarm. I don't have to go to cross country today. But my mind decided otherwise. My legs were fine, I could deal with that. So I got up, hunched over in pain from the sheer action of standing and hobbled over to my phone. I reached out to silence the stupid thing and what do ya know? My entire arm was tight. My muscles hurt like no other. I didn't know the stupefying number of how many place you could hurt at once.
I still remember that first day of being sore. Yet that shocking pain did nothing to motivate me as the seasons went by. Track freshman year, didn't run in the off season either. Sophomore cross country, nope. Sophomore track, no again. Now it is my senior year and I have yet to learn the lesson. Maybe when track comes around. I'll make sure to run in this next off season. Am I telling the truth? I sure hope so. Am I gonna do it for sure? I sure wish I will. Can anybody know for sure if I will actually stick to it? Nope. I guess time will tell. The one thing I do know for sure though is that no matter if I run a lot or none at all, the first day won't be as painful as expected. Because the one thing I have learned from my stupidity in not running in the off season is that my body is getting more and more conditioned to my abusive laziness. I have now mastered the art of tolerating pain from being sore. It's just a fact. Will that affect my decision to do well during the season after I've already put myself through this, heck yeah. If my body is willing to deal with the pain then I'm willing to work harder to get better faster so I can catch up to the people who have a two month head start. I'm not gonna lie though. I can be honest with you guys. One of the only reasons I stay motivated about getting better anymore after not running off season is because my body has shown me that it can bounce back much more quickly than others. In the last three years of doing this, I have gone from the complete bottom to the top in less than three weeks. Every time. Without fail. I just hope this time will be no different.