On Saturday morning, I found myself late to a 5K race. (Which is a story in and of itself, that also taught me a lesson, but I'm keeping it short-remember?) The roads to the parking garage at the start were closed. But at this point in my morning, I was determined to run this thing! So I parked in a nearby neighborhood and ran to the start. When I finally reached the start line it was 4 minutes after the gun had gone off and I was already exhausted, yet I technically had not even begun the race.
But I saw some friends who encouraged me to keep running and try to catch up with another friend who was running the race. I decided I could do it or at least try! So I kept on running and made it my goal to catch up with her. And after a few minutes I caught up with the walkers. At that point I figured I might as well take off my jacket, put on my iPod, and pin on my number cause apparently I had joined the race! I did and I kept on running. After about 10 minutes, I caught up to the joggers, and I kept running. After about 15 minutes, I started wondering if there was going to be water on this course, cause I had really already ran a 5K and not exactly at a steady pace! Finally there was water at 2 miles; I enjoyed every drop and kept on running. I never did catch my friend, I finished with a less than stellar time, and I felt more exhausted than I typically do after a 10K, but I did it! I finished the race, even though I started out behind.
And when I finished, I thought "Sometimes life feels like that race!". Right now I'm totally overwhelmed with lesson plans, (half) marathon training, laundry, tutoring, grad class reading and summaries, house projects, Jes' birthday present, research stuff for Texas, and many other things that I am WAY BEHIND ON! But I think I've slowed my pace. I've gotten behind and I've given up and decided it's impossible to catch up to where I want to be.
But I didn't do that on Saturday. When I reached the start line, I started off alone, but determined thanks to my friends' encouragement. And about halfway through the race when I realized I would never catch up to my friend, I set a new goal: to do the best I could given the circumstances. I knew it wouldn't be my best time, and I knew I could have done better. But I decided that it didn't matter, I wasn't going to give up. I was going to keep running.
Right now I feel like I'm at the start line alone and I'm way behind the race. But I'm not alone and finishing isn't impossible. I just have to adjust my goals. And I have to keep running. And so blogging will wait, while I strive to catch up on these things during this 3 day work week!
So here I go on a different kind of race. I'm sprinting ahead to finish as much as I can so I can actually enjoy my long weekend!
The finish line will be awesome, no matter how exhausted I am when I reach it! Thursday morning (after my haircut-yay!) I'm heading to Charleston for birthday celebrations with my Dad, Kathy, Jes, and Raelynn. I CANNOT WAIT! :)
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