Running the race

I have never been a runner, but for some reason lately with everyone talking about the races they are preparing for I have been thinking a lot about running. Even considering it, which is huge for me, believe me.

I have been starting to think of my life as a race.

A marathon if you will.

You run and run and put everything you can into it. Then you get that little surge, you remember why you are doing this, how exciting it is, and just when you think you can't give anything more, you see the finish line. You start running harder, faster.

Finally you get to the line, exhausted but so happy that you made it. Then you find out that you are not actually at the end. This is a two lap race. It seems like the cruelest joke. You want to just sit down and cry. But you HAVE to finish.

You start to become a little resentful, why would they do that to do? Why wouldn't they tell you in the beginning that you have a second lap? You aren't angry at anyone in particular just the situation. You still love the journey, you are still glad that you are on it, and when you see the finish line the second time, it is that much more amazing because you didn't know if you could make it, and there you are standing there, basking in the glory of completing something so important to you.

I hope that I feel that way when we reach the finish line.

I have had more than once that I have wanted to sit down and say "I'm done, I give up." I wish that there weren't so many trees and I could see the end now, it would make it so much easier to keep going.

I know though that there is a finish line, the race is just a little longer than I expected, but we just have to keep going.