Transcript

Resuming #1195 · From Chad

0:00
Four months on oxygen, 17 years to the finish line.
0:06
There's a story behind that. This is your daily message from
0:09
Chad #1195 to upgrade your mental game today by telling
0:13
yourself a better story. Because the most important story
0:16
you hear is the story you tell yourself.
0:18
This message is dedicated to Emma Tillman.
0:21
Here's the upgrade. You think stopping means you
0:24
gave up. But upgraded, thinking there was
0:26
a pause is not a stop. Here's the story.
0:31
Emma Tillman ran her first marathon because a woman named
0:34
Lisa French talked her into it at a road race in Memphis.
0:37
Tillman finished that one, then ran two more the next year.
0:41
What started as a let's do a few of these together turned into
0:44
something bigger. 50 marathons, 50 states.
0:49
They built entire trips around it.
0:51
Fly out Thursday, work remote Friday, race Saturday morning,
0:55
home Sunday night. State by state.
0:56
Year after year, the map kept filling in.
0:59
Then in 2011, a blood clot hit her lung.
1:03
The pulmonary embolism hospitalized her, and she spent
1:06
four months on oxygen at home just to breathe normally again.
1:10
But she got back up and kept adding states.
1:13
Then her body turned on her a second time, a chronic condition
1:16
in her gut that meant IV fluids and supplemental nutrients just
1:21
to stay nourished. Running wasn't a discipline
1:24
problem anymore. It was a body won't let you
1:27
problem. She managed 1 marathon in 2019,
1:32
the Nothing No race for two full years.
1:36
Then she put her toes on the start line again in 2021 and
1:40
completed the Carmel Marathon in her home state of Indiana.
1:44
Then on August 16th of this year, 17 years after Elisa
1:49
French talked her into that first race and the Tillman
1:52
crossed the finish line of the Anchorage Funfest Marathon in
1:56
Alaska State #50 she's 46 now. She told her reporter she
2:01
genuinely wasn't sure she'd ever get there.
2:05
She still runs 5 or 6 mornings a week.
2:07
What motivates her isn't a goal anymore, though, as much as the
2:11
community and camaraderie she's found in running.
2:14
It's the conversation as much as the mileage.
2:17
And she's not finished setting goals.
2:18
She wants a new half marathon personal record.
2:21
She wants to break 4 hours. Completing her 50 and 50 took
2:26
her 17 years. This couple setbacks were big
2:29
enough to end it for good, but zero of them did.
2:33
The better story to tell yourself is a pause is not a
2:37
stop. Just imagine what's still
2:40
possible if you picked back up on that thing you paused instead
2:44
of calling it the thing you quit.
2:47
Tell me a story about a goal you paused but never quit.
2:50
On to from chadsmith@gmail.com. Send someone a text and ask them
2:55
what are you still working toward?
2:56
Even if you had to stop for a while, You get a free copy of my
2:59
book, The Most Powerful Story in the World, by going to from
3:02
chad.gumroad.com. The transcript of this message
3:06
and hundreds of others are always available at
3:08
www.fromchad.com.