It's been 3 years since my last one. No money and no time will do that. This year I was up for another one and feeling settled enough to tackle the training that goes into these. Except we are already a month into school and I am feeling anything but settled. Our school board pulled a fast one this summer, moving our short day (aka, planning day) from Wednesday to Friday. That's a rant for whole 'nother day.
The original race plans included way more in our party. All four of us sisters and Kiersten and Jason were going to run the Little Grand Canyon that takes you through part of the San Rafael Swell. Two months before that race they cancelled and kindly refunded our money.
(I found this shirt at the DI to commemorate the race we were supposed to have run.)
However, we still needed another race within the same time frame and that still cost about the same. That's hard to do when pricing starts to go up. We found one outside of Richfield . . . the Clear Creek Half . . . and our party was reduced to me and Katie and some friends to fill the family void.
It was a cold morning, high on that mountain, as we waited to start. It only took three miles for my hands to unthaw. At about mile 7 a runner passed me. She and I played leap frog for the next three or four miles as she told me this was her first half and she hadn't really trained. Oh no, I thought. She doesn't know what's in store for that last couple of miles. They can be brutal. At mile 11 I caught up with her again and she was struggling and asked if we could finish together. I wasn't aiming for a particular time but knew I wouldn't finish within my usual time span if I stayed back to finish with her. I went on ahead slowly, but would stop and glance back every so often to make sure she was coming. I knew I had to keep moving forward or my legs would stop working. She would catch up and then I would go on ahead again. We did this until the last half mile where she caught up and we ran together. Even though she could see the finish line, she kept telling me she couldn't do it. And I kept encouraging her as she crossed that finish line, her first half marathon completed.
Life's journey has us all at different places along the path. It's not a race to a final destination, but a journey with ups and downs and side trips and aid stations and setbacks and helpers. May I never become so distracted with my agenda and my goals that in my race to the "finish line" I leave someone behind who could have used my encouragement and help.
**Love my sister even though she never lets me win.
And love my neighbor and friend who runs with me even though I'm a slow turtle.
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