09.11.07
“Live a runner’s lifestyle.”
The other week when I took a much needed rest day (which tend to be few and difficult to do for me), I walked to the local grocery store to beat my boredom and enjoy the cooler weather. There I picked up the latest issue of Runner’s Magazine and browsed through it before getting some dinner groceries. I breezed through the main articles beginning at the back and flipping forward. I came across a particular article that had quotes and words of advice from elite athletes. When, I got to the beginning of the article I read Deena Kastor’s words, “Live a runner’s lifestyle.” The article explains:
“Kastor started running when she was 11 years old, but it wasn’t until after high school and college that she became a world-beater. The transformation came when she moved to Colorado to be coached by Joe Vigil. “He told me that if I really wanted to be successful, I needed to live a runner’s lifestyle. There are choices you make throughout the day that will affect how you do when it’s time to run. Only then…”
Over the past many months, but more compounded in the past few weeks has been my struggle with juggling my job and running: do I stay? do I try to work this out? should I move on to something else? switching will be failure because you can balance this…My roommate has listened and advised me endlessly on this topic while I continued to flail around, lost, in my own sea of life.
However, these words stuck with me. The following day when I went to leave work early for Wednesday practice, but to my surprise had to ask permission and was almost was denied, I thought, “I just can’t do it anymore. It will always be a struggle with this job. Thus, is the nature of the situation and why am I putting myself through this - who am I proving to? I can get my masochist kicks in running not the battle between these two (haha).”
So, these thoughts matched with the Unconventional thoughts and the Wednesday surprise all led me to finally feel some security and direction in the next life path turn God wants me to take. “He gives us the desires of our hearts” my roommate said a long time ago - I just finally realized I have to be willing and daring enough to take them. So, where and what this new path is I don’t know, but it’s not going to be the one I’m currently on. I choose to “live a runner’s lifestyle,” whatever God may deem that to be.
[And so far the decision has been positive.]
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