The miles ahead and the miles behind

I woke up this morning to the sound of Same Old Lang Syne , a song that I absolutely love but also one that always makes me reminiscent. It got me thinking (again) about how much running is a great metaphor for life.



So many runs ended this past year and those miles are now behind us. Some of those runs were long and slow and others were short and quick. Any good plan will include both because in and life and in running you need to have balance. There will always be those courses and distances you love and run over and over, but you may never know how much you love another until you try it. The miles ahead don't have to mirror the miles behind.

There was pain in all runs and the interesting thing is that we knew there would be before we set our minds on completing the run but we did it anyway. To not make the run at all was worse than any pain we might feel during the run so we strapped on our shoes and started the journey. We embraced the pain as just a part of running (living) and also as a small payment for the wonderful joys that we find out on the course. We redefined pain and fear on those miles behind us and that allows, and sometimes spurs, us to desire those miles ahead.

The joy we feel is indescribable. That's not an overstatement if you've ever tried to describe how running a marathon feels to a nonrunner. We describe it in terms of pain and suffering and how great it is. Even as the words come out of our mouths we have to giggle at how silly that sounds but it's so true. Those miles behind us are pure joy and happiness. Even the bad ones. They are miles that made us, shaped us, and refined us into the runners (people) we are.

At the end of a run there is always some lingering soreness; a reminder of what we've done. Sometimes this soreness is extremely painful and sometimes this soreness makes us smile in remembrance of how great the journey was. Only time can make the soreness easier, either good or bad. Once it's gone, however, the desire to return to the race is still there and we begin the journey again. Maybe in a different place, maybe with a different group, maybe with a different goal, but there's always another run waiting for us out there.

Thanks for listening



Obviously we don't run for the pain. We run for those wonderful moments of exilerahtion and joy and can only be found by getting out of ourselves and discovering something new. Life and running are not spectator sports the joy is in the doing.