The View from Here

That is the view of part of my 6 mile run yesterday. Running this hill is always a challenge. It is only 1.6 miles to the end of the street, but every inch of the way it feels like my quads and calves are on fire. I have to tell myself to keep going because once I start walking part of the way, it is easy to stop and walk again. I have this little trick I do in my head as I am running a hard stretch. I pick a tree, light pole, or traffic sign up ahead and picture myself tied to that tree by a bungee cord. This seems weird, but as I do it, I can almost feel myself being pulled toward the tree. If I look at the entire street and focus on all I must climb to get to the end, I could easily give up.

Life is similar to jogging. Sometimes we are on an easy down hill path that feels like we could go forever. Sometimes we are just plugging along and doing the day to day mundane things like the flat trail without much of a view. And then there are the times in our lives when every step feels hard, and we have to convince ourselves not to give up and if we just keep moving that we can make it to the end. Sometimes we have to get through each day dealing with just one small step and not allow ourselves to become overwhelmed by the big picture, and then pray that somehow we can feel someone pulling us along.