Change

Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: Can't remember
Friday: 2 mile warm-up, 3x800, 1/2 mile cool down
Saturday: 30 miles bike tool shed and back
Monday: 4 miles pushing Jayci
Tuesday: 20 miles bike Burger King

Change is the essence of life.

Be willing to surrender what you are

for what you could become.

author unknown

I was on vacation, and have been home now for a week. I just haven't had time to recap since school was out. I did not get out much while vacationing. I did run 6 miles one day in the most wonderful rain I have ever been in. Wow!

Truthfully, I don't have much to report right now. I have decided that I definitely need to stretch, and I mean good stretch, a few days a week. I have always been very flexible, but when I first started exercising, I was coaching tumbling, and stretching 2 times a week. It is amazing how much flexibility I have lost. I imagine that I am like the tin man in the wizard of oz before he gets oiled, creaky and stiff. Stretching is like oiling a machine, it allows the joints to move more freely. I truly believe it makes a difference. However, it is just one more thing in the list of things to do, and often gets left out. Mental note, stretch!

I had a friend and a cousin that each ran their first 5K last Saturday. They did so great. My cousin called me when she finished, and was so proud, as well she should be. I tell you, it is amazing. They ran 3.1 miles, and are alive to tell about it. I was so excited for both of them, I can feel their happiness. There is something so wonderful about working towards a goal you once thought impossible, and achieving it. I think that is why running becomes so addictive to some. It is kind of a test of strength, physical and mental. It is nice to be able to control something when so many things in life leave us feeling out-of-control.

Today I would like to celebrate change. Change is something I have found hard all of my life. I like to have things stay the same, to know what to expect. Arnold Bennett said, "A change, even a change for the better, has its drawbacks and discomforts." I fear those discomforts. However, change is inevitable. It seems like the times I dread change the most, is the times the change has been the best for me. I have new neighbors who just moved in on Saturday. I think of the change they are dealing with, new friends, new community, new schools. They are in such unfamiliar territory. That is a huge discomfort and drawback to me. I am glad I am not them. This kind of change terrifies me. But on the other hand, I am somewhat jealous of them, it is a new adventure, and new chance to grow and stretch. Changes grows a man (or woman in this case.) I need to be willing to surrender what I am now for what I can become. Running helps me realize this, I am becoming something I once thought impossible. I run today to surrender the former me so I can become what I am meant to be in the future. Keep running!