COMMUNITY: Lesson in self-efficacy

Editor's note: Daren Schumaker of Cedar Rapids and Dennis Lee of Walford are attempting to run across Iowa's 99 counties, raising money for the American Heart Association. They have completed 54 counties. This is No. 53. Next: Buena Vista.

By Daren Schumaker, community contributor

Self-efficacy is 'the belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations.”

This concept, developed by psychologist Dr. Albert Bandura, is simply a person's belief that he or she will succeed or fail in a particular situation and is influenced by experience, modeling based on the experiences of others, social persuasions and physiological factors.

Bandura's social learning theory and the related theoretical construct of self-efficacy are things not many of us have spent any time studying. The reality is most of us are more likely to wake up on the wrong side of the bed on any given morning than we are to spend the day learning about self-efficacy.

By now you should know that we, as Team 99 Counties, tend to overachieve and, as such, it should come as no surprise we experienced both waking up on the wrong side of the bed and learning about self-efficacy simultaneously on March 23.

We stood on the western border of Cass County in southwest Iowa. Dennis was ready to go. I, however, was less than enthusiastic. After waking a little on the dizzy side and with an uncooperative stomach, I was hopeful the more than three hour drive would be plenty of time for my body to round into running form. I felt poor at best, but inspiring others isn't always sunshine and rainbows, so I toed the line with Dennis and we started eastward on Highway 83, known to the locals as White Pole Road.

We quickly learned western Iowa is not flat and we mostly ran up five miles of hills before we passed through Marne and continued toward Atlantic. The hills took my mind off how I was feeling, but by the time we approached and entered Atlantic I was quite aware of the reality around me. Not the cold northeast wind. Not the bright sun. Not the unrelenting hills. I felt bad and it wasn't getting better, it was getting worse.

You don't ponder the edge when you're standing on the cliff, so I kept going. We climbed more hills in Atlantic - 'the Coca-Cola Capital of Iowa” - and continued east on a road with a narrow shoulder. By the time we had traveled 16 miles my goose was more than cooked, it was burnt. Usually I don't like to take breaks. Soon I was sitting on the side of the road every two miles or so, at times dry heaving. I had to engage in various types of mental gymnastics just to keep going, gymnastics that turned out to be the sprouts of self-efficacy.

Experience. We had danced this dance 52 times. I knew the steps. I knew I could finish. Modeling based on the experiences of others. I've seen Dennis fight through illness, on one occasion running 10 miles in the dark in Butler County after emptying the contents of his stomach on Quail Avenue.

If Dennis can do it, I can too. Social persuasions. Dennis was right there with me, telling me that I could keep going, bolstering my confidence.

Physiological factors. I used the butterflies in my stomach as motivation rather than as an excuse. Surprisingly, but not so surprisingly, we finished. We spent 3:48:43 running 26.80 miles as we passed through Marne, Atlantic, Wiota and Anita en route to the completion of our 53rd county.

Moral of the story? Life is a perfect storm. You have to look through the storm clouds in order to see sunshine and rainbows. You have to believe you can reach your goals if you want to reach them. Build a base of experiences as you work toward your goals, model your behavior on the successes and failures of others, encourage others and allow yourself to be encouraged. And don't let the butterflies in your stomach keep you from finishing.

Seeing is believing, but more importantly, believing is seeing. Water your dreams so that they may sprout and grow.

Inspiration through perspiration. Become active or make a donation to Team 99 Counties or the American Heart Association to help fight heart disease.