I
actually had the nerve to google training for a marathon last night! I know,
crazy… Right?? It was a pretty bold act because to even entertain the thought
of running 26.2 miles with only an 11 mile long run seems absurd even to me!
But much to my surprise, after looking at the training I humbly and
apprehensively thought, Hmm. I couldn’t help thinking about my marathon
running neighbor telling me that if you finish a marathon you are automatically
a 1%-er. I’m not exactly sure what that meant but I liked it immediately. Stay
tuned :)
Still thinking about my gutsy google
search over my morning coffee today, I had a funny high school flashback. I was
15 or 16 years old and my friend and I decided to try out for cross country.
Our reasoning for doing this escapes me. Here we were, girly girls with zero
experience in any sport other than cheer leading, huffing and puffing down
Maple Avenue, dead last behind a pack of runners that had become black specks
in the distance. I vividly remember the coach driving by as we happened to be
resting by a tree asking each other why the heck we were doing this.
“Come on ladies,” he shouted. “Move
it! At the very least walk”.
Man did that tick me off! I remember
thinking, who the heck is this pudgy little man driving in his teenie tiny
compact car to tell me to move it? So we did what any other teenage girls would
do. One of us watched for him and we hid & rested behind random parked cars
when we saw him circling by as we made our way down Maple Avenue back to Notre
Dame. And that marked my first and last time running for 25 years.
Today I started wondering why
something I hated as a kid suddenly became so meaningful to me 25 years later.
I decided the answer might be in a quote I had heard a long time ago…
“When the student is ready the
teacher will appear”
So at 41, I’m finally laced up and
ready to learn! And as shallow as it may be I secretly wish my past skeptics
and even my pudgy little cross country coach would drive by and see me now! I
wouldn’t hide behind a parked car today. I have 41 years of maturity and wisdom
behind me.
In the spirit of the wise quote….
Sometimes when the pudgy
shouting teacher appears the student is ready. To shout
back, take a look at me now, buddy! Happy Monday!
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