I Am No Runner

I am no runner. Occasionally, I dabble. Or, rather: trudge, stagger, gasp, wheeze, redden, and drip. I prefer to befriend (or marry) runners. I am not going to analyze how long I've been doing this or why. Mostly, I suppose, I admire runners and the principles behind being a runner – I just lack the motivation to actually be a serious runner.

I am no runner but I admire runners. I admire their commitment to stay physically fit – waking up early or running into the night to train, pushing their bodies to the level of fitness they were built for. I admire their ability to set a goal and to achieve that goal – running 5 Ks, 10 Ks, ½ marathons, marathons, pushing themselves to do better each time – to work harder, faster, stronger. These are traits I wish to emulate, at least vicariously while drinking coffee and eating a doughnut.

I am no runner but I can imagine what it is like to train for any marathon, especially one as prestigious as The Boston Marathon. I can imagine what it is like to run the fastest, farthest, and hardest you've ever run before – pushing past fatigue and discomfort – to approach the finish line after hours of physical exertion only to find out that you've inexplicably entered a war zone. In an instant, what should have been the proudest moment of your life became the most horrifying.

I am no runner but today I feel like running. Running to represent what the sport means to Americans – we are not gluttonous, over-consuming, fat, and lazy – we are people that work hard and achieve our goals. We run because we can – even if it is hard, even if it means we have to overcome physical and mental obstacles.

 I am no runner but my heart goes out to them today – to the people who worked for weeks, months, years to run in The Boston Marathon, to the spectators cheering their friends and family on, to the people of Boston. I pray for them. I pray for us all.

Just Need a Little Bit of Perspective

We all need a little perspective. Some of us, like me, more than others. That is one of the reasons I came up with the idea for this blog over two years ago. My idea was to make a slightly humorous, highly self-deprecating, and somewhat tongue in cheek blog about how I let all life’s little things keep me from seeing the big picture and keep me from living the life I really want to live.

I resisted actually beginning this blog because I was afraid that writing a blog such as this would be a waste of time. I want to be a fiction writer – novels, short stories, etc. - where does writing trivial essays on life fit into this goal? But the idea kept nagging me, the blog posts kept writing themselves, and people kept suggesting it. So, a few years later, here we are!

Around two weeks after my blogging debut, Hurricane Sandy came banging on our door. As the wind rattled my office windows and the rain dripped ever so slightly into my basement, I sat on my computer in my well-lit office writing a blog entry on how I scrambled to prepare for Sandy but she did very little but force my family to remain inside and spend some time together. Minutes after I posted my entry, our electricity went out for a few hours.  This was the extent of our damage.

While I was cuddling up with the kids on the sleep sofa, families north of us were losing their homes to wind, fallen trees, floods and fire. While my husband and I worried about a trickle of rain coming in our house, my beloved Jersey shore was under water.  While people in Sea Isle City are renovating their first floors, people in Sea Side Heights are rebuilding homes. While people down the shore are evaluating the damage to their vacation homes, people outside New York City lost everything – everything they've ever had, gone. While people are taking stock of all the processions they lost, some people have lost their lives. It is all about perspective.

I had another momentarily lapse in perspective just a few short days later on Wednesday, October 31st. Our town had already decided to post-pone Halloween to Saturday, a decision both the kids and I were happy with. While I was busy planning a fun-filled Saturday Halloween, Governor Christie mandated that the entire state of New Jersey post-pone Halloween until Monday. I didn’t even know a Governor COULD or WOULD do that? Didn’t he trust the municipalities to make that decision? And on and on I ranted to my kids (who could have cared less), to my family on the phone, to my friends through email, and on Facebook. Big mistake! Immediately, I was put in my place and rightly so because, after all, does it really matter when Halloween is? 

People lost everything. Some New Jersey towns still couldn’t Trick or Treat come Monday. Some Trick or Treated this past weekend. Some will not be Trick or Treating at all this year. Furthermore, what about the people that struggle every year on Halloween – struggle to find the extra money for costumes and candy?  All I can do is be grateful for what I have, pray for those that struggle, and offer assistance wherever I can. And always try to remember to keep things in perspective.