Do you remember the girl's baseball movie, A League of their Own, which includes the unforgettable assertion: “There’s no crying in baseball!” As I've been trying to build back up my mileage for what seems like forever, I’ve thought of another scene from that movie. Dottie, the main character, has 
determined to leave, right at the climax of the season. The manager says to her, “…sneaking out like this, quitting, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. Baseball is what gets inside you. It's what lights you up, you can't deny that.” She replies, “It just got too hard. “ And he responds: “It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great.” What a great reminder!
Since my fall last July and the subsequent foot issue it has been difficult to get my mileage back up. Right now most of my runs are a lot of self talk and slow progress. But this is life isn't it. Life is filled with difficulties. As a Christian running is just an extension of my life, a life God has called me to, a life with eternal implications. Moreover, as a follower of Jesus Christ I am promised, not ease and comfort, but trouble and persecution. Life will have challenges and difficulties. In short, it will be hard. We live in a broken world, and our bodies and the struggles we have are just part of the evidence of that. But as any runner knows running gets inside you, it's what lights you up and we endure the hard stuff because we understand that's part of what makes it so great! If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it...It’s the hard that makes it great!
I'm a bit of a vocabulary geek. I like learning new words and get kiddy when
listening to someone who has a large vocabulary. Lately the word longevity has been on my mind.
Dictonary.com defines longevity as: a long individual
life;
great
duration
of
individual
life:
length of service, and tenure. My favorite definition came from Merriam
Webster which defined longevity as: a long continuance: permanence, durability. I was recently
looking through the race photos of a race a friend just ran and one I hope to run
next year. As I was thumbing through the various shots taken of the race I saw her, not my friend, but her, "the alpine
lady." Well, that's what I named her when I would see her on the running
trail every morning around 5:30am. I nick-named her that because she always
wore support hose under her running shorts and layered her tops in such a way
that it made me think about something you might see in the Alps. It's really my
weird way of seeing things than me making fun of her. Actually I think she was
on to the whole idea of compression wear long before it is what it is today.
Anyway there she was 16+ years later plugging away at that race. Out of
curiosity I looked up her age and discovered she is 65 years old. During the
years I saw her every morning I lived near and ran a particular part of the
trails on Riverside Drive in Tulsa. Even though we never met we would exchange a
friendly hello. As any runner knows there’s a common comradery that comes with
seeing the same faces every morning. Lately I've been running a particular
trail here in Houston and the same thing is happening. Those familiar faces
that don't have names but you share those moments along the way. Who knows
maybe they have a nick-name for me... I hope that longevity, continuance and
durability will be definers in my life, not only in running but in my
relationships as well.
Speaking
of running it has been going VERY well!!! I got rid of that silly foot pad
which seemed to be causing more issues than helping and amazingly I have had very
little to NO foot pain. Praise the Lord!!! My race schedule is filling up fast
for the Fall and my hopes are high that things will be back on track for seeing
some long desired goals met this year.
Do you have nick-names for people you see on your running trails?
determined to leave, right at the climax of the season. The manager says to her, “…sneaking out like this, quitting, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. Baseball is what gets inside you. It's what lights you up, you can't deny that.” She replies, “It just got too hard. “ And he responds: “It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great.” What a great reminder!