Thursday, May 16, 2013

The Finish Point

Big, big thanks to Ben & Jacqueline, Jess and Chico for their generous donations! Thanks so much for helping a great organization and for inspiring me to get out and run. I guess an eight mile run from school to Vasant Vihar and back was enough to earn enough to push me past 50% of my goal! Special thanks to Chico for the text at 5:24 am. "Wake up and run, be nimble and quick, Chico just donated!" It was a great way to start the day. Luckily, I was up and ready to run!

The run itself was a great one. Good pace to the Veevs, met Zach (thanks Zach!) and good pace back to school. The usual Veevs sights (cows) and one great surprise - An ELEPHANT! This is the first time I've seen an elephant on a run. Now I can add it to ever-growing list of mammals I've seen while running. Last night a friend sent me a link to the Northwest Passage Marathon, the northern-most race in N. America. If I do that one, I could add beluga whales, seals, polar bears and muskoxen...

Today's post isn't a detailed description of a run. If you want that, you can go back and see this post about the Veevs 8 Miler.

Instead, today's post is a bit of running/life philosophy that I've developed since I began running last year.

Everyone knows about the finish line. It's the end of a race. A goal to be reached. However, since I've started running, I've developed some ideas about something a little different - the finish point. The finish point is different than the finish line. The finish point is that moment on a long, tough run when you say to yourself, "I can finish this run. I'll be able to get all of the way home." On different days, the finish point is closer to the end and on others it's much further away. Those are the tough days. On the tough days though, you wait for it to come. You wonder if it's coming at all. You wonder what it's going to take. A glimpse of the finish line? A last endorphin rush?

Sometimes it's one of those things, but not always. Sometimes you come across a friend that's on a walk that smiles and says hi, sometimes one of those friends is running home too and you join them or sometimes it's just a shift in your thinking. It's always just what you need at just the right time.

But always, there's something. There's always a point in your run when you say to yourself, "I've got this. I'm going to finish."

This thinking can be adjusted for just about anything we tackle in life. There's always a point when you can say to yourself, "I can do this. I'm going to make it." No matter how tough, now matter how exhausted you are, no matter how impossible things seem, there's always a finish point. As long as you keep moving forward, you'll make it.

The last year has been hard for me, but those last minute endorphin rushes, those times when a smile from a friend, or a helping hand was just what I needed at that time to help me through.

If you can donate, please do!


RUN STATS:
Distance - 8 miles
Time - 1:04:47 - Another route record!
Soundtrack - Public Enemy, The Best Of and 1/2 of Fear of a Black Planet



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