It’s Wednesday and that means it’s time for another Wednesday Word, a linkup hosted by Debbie. This week’s word is fortitude.
Merriam-Webster has this to say about fortitude: mental strength and courage that allows someone to face danger, pain, etc. So to have fortitude you have to be mentally strong as you encounter hardship, or some other type of adversity, while being unafraid. Personally, I think patience and fortitude kind of go hand in hand. How can you face something without a little diligence. A bit of stubbornness helps, too.
It’s ironic that this week’s word is fortitude, because I’m having the kind of week that requires a lot of it. I don’t usually talk about work on my blog, but yesterday I spent nearly 8 hours total driving round trip for a two hour meeting. Today is going to be a long, 12+ hour work day that will also be mentally tough. After all that I will be headed up to the DC area tomorrow night and then over to West “by God” Virginia Friday for the Ragnar Trail Relay.
I’m really excited about Ragnar, after having a blast at the DC Ragnar Relay last fall. However, it also means that once again I’m having to face my fear of the dark – this time while running through the woods. I will definitely need to find some inner strength, some fortitude, to push through!
What does ‘having fortitude’ mean to you?
Turkey Runner 
As I said to Deb, you are brave ladies! Good luck & have fun!
Thank you! It was definitely a wild ride.
Meagan, whenever I think about running in the dark, I think about you! I hope that it’s a great weekend, and as I mentioned to Deb, you all are bringing FORTITUDE to share!!! Have a fantastic time!
Sorry about all that driving, too. I hope it all settles down ASAP.
Too funny! As it turned out I barely had to run in the dark, and actually brought the sun up which was really neat.
Things should settle down at work after this week. Three tough weeks in a row and then I can settle a bit.
We’ve got this! You didn’t get sprayed by a skunk on your overnight run during Ragnar DC, and I’m taking that as a good sign for Ragnar WV! See you tomorrow! 🙂
Thanks for linking up!
A good sign for no bears?? At least there weren’t any of those!
Lions and Tigers and Bears – Oh my!
I wouldn’t worry so much about that night run. With all those peeps running in the woods the wildlife will find somewhere else to hang out for the night. However, if you hear banjo music…
LUD.
That’s a good point. I listened for any banjo music, but we lucked out and there wasn’t any. Whew!
Good luck and have fun this weekend! Just two more work days to get through, then you can run off the stress!
I’m going to try to remember this for my half-marathon this weekend. I’m sure the run will go fine, but the weather forecast is not looking the best. I don’t really love running in the rain! I’ll just keep thinking “fortitude, fortitude – I can do it!”
As it turns out, it ended up being a fun, albeit stressful weekend! I hope Mother Nature was at least a little forgiving to you this weekend!
Enjoy Ragnar. It sounds like so much fun! Your fortitude will get you through that dark run. You are a runner, which means you are mentally tough anyway!! You’ve got this.
Thanks! I made it through the wilderness 😉
Keep drawing on that fortitude for Ragnar! Good luck and have fun!
Thank you! I did just that.
Dang you sure do travel a lot for your job! Do you have to drive your own car or do they provide one? Traveling in the car especially is tough because you can’t do anything else at the same time, except listen to things. You probably caught up on your podcasts right? 😀
Can’t wait to hear about Ragnar!
I have a car provided by work, thank goodness! I am most certainly all caught up on Podcasts and I am also on book 3 of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (which I probably haven’t read since at least high school).