Wednesday, November 6, 2024

The Art of the Distance Run

How many of you are runners?


When I was young, I was the fastest girl in my school. (I had older brothers -- it was a survival skill.) Of approximately 3,000 students in my middle school, that status stuck, so I decided to go out for track...and lasted about a semester, when I mentioned to my dad (a doctor) that I was shaky and coughing and miserable for 3 days after running a mile. Turns out I had exercise-induced asthma. That ended my running career and I turned to biking.



Fast forward 30 years. My son, whom I had always assumed also suffered from exercise-induced asthma, decided he was going to run a 5K. He trained everyday for a semester, and when he called me and told me how proud he ran for 10 mi straight without even realizing it, I took that as permission to try again. If he could do it, why couldn't I?


My first running session was torture. I think I made it an eighth of a mile. If that. But I didn't give up. I took the kids to the park every other day, and I built on what I was capable of, pushing myself until I wanted to puke. Until my lungs ached. Until I was sure I was killing myself. 



2 years of this, and I came to this magical place where I had built up to running 2 miles. As a teenager, I had never run 1 mile straight, and I was stinkin' fit!


So what got me there?



1. It started with seeing another person go the distance, realizing it was possible. 


2. Making a plan--I had to have a pathway to success. I had to be consistent. I had to push through even when it felt like torture.


3. I had to make realistic goals. Small ones at first, building, pushing myself harder and harder. 


4. I had to keep my eye on the Target: the hope of being healthier and having more endurance daily to handle the demand of multiple kids, homeschooling, directing plays and musicals, and so, so much more.



This one success story in a plethora of failures. There were many times when I had to quit running due to injury, only to pick up a month or two later and build to where I had been. My joints didn't like the exertion. Oftentimes, I'd limp for my run. My lungs hated me. They screamed they couldn't pump through another step.


But ultimately, it was possible.


I listened to a talk once about a man who sat down with a billionaire and asked what his secret was. What could he do to reach the level of this expert? The man told him Marilyn, the story of The tortoise and the hare. He said “be the tortoise.”



In another inspirational talk given by multi-marathon runners, I heard some of the best advice ever: “Never question the race on the uphill.” – Meaning don't consider quitting when you're on the hardest part of the course. Wait until you are gliding down the hill before deciding whether or not it's worth quitting. 


These are the keys to success. I them realized in three of my kids who've reached adulthood, two more on the way. I see them in the talents and skills I've gained through the years. I see it through our slow accumulation of successes in every aspect of life. 

We get too anxious to Sprint. We get excited by small successes and think think we've done it. The reality is:


Life is a distance run.


If we can learn the art of the distance run, we'll finish our race with success, joy, and the sense of accomplishment that only those who crush hardship can know.


What challenge are you huffing & panting through right now? What crazy obstacles have you overcome? What advise do you have to reaching success?

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Heartbreak in the East: Hope in the Homeland

This last week has been a hard one for me. Living in the heart of hurricane land, I don't love when a storm comes along, but I don't worry too much.


Florida houses are typically built to withstand a category 3 hurricane (meaning winds as high as 130 mph and crazy rain for days), but the rest of the nation doesn't build to that standard.

As I watched the trajectory of Helene & listened to it being upgraded to a category 4, I knew the results wouldn't be pretty. Although grateful this storm missed us initially, my attitude changed when I heard about Tennessee and North Carolina. Georgia and South Carolina are dealing with the fallout too. I wished the hurricane had turned and hit us more fully because we have the response, the infrastructure, the attitude to face big scary storms and carry on.



Our governor put all the preemptive processes in place -- emergency workers, supply routes, road and electricity line repair -- but he couldn't do that for the other states. 

Especially the ones inland.

The stories... Oh the stories. I was drowning in heartache. (This is why I can't read WWII books, folks.) Two dams were oversaturated and burst, flooding whole towns. Family members lost. Livelihoods swept away. An inability to communicate with loved ones. I went to bed with tears in my eyes and prayers on my lips.


Answers come too. They didn't come from the federal government but from governors of neighboring states, from people whose hearts broke like mine who own helicopters, from good Samaritans who donated cash and goods. Desantis sent aid to the hardest hit areas FROM Florida and I cheered at every new development. Last I heard, he sent a brigade of road workers with bridge materials to help people trapped in the North Carolina mountains.


I still watch and worry and pray, and soon our family will trek out to assist with disaster clean up (as is our way), but it's incumbent on all of us to make the world better -- to find those who are suffering, to lift where we can, to BRING HOPE in place of devastation.


My prayers continue with those who have no electricity, no running water, who are scrambling for food and safety. At the same time, my heart is light knowing good people in the world are responding to the desperation. Lets be those good people, eh?


How is your heart holding up? How have you found peace despite the upheaval in the world? What are you doing to find/bring happiness each day?