Day 2 Second Day of School

The first day of training is like the first day  of school-- exciting as if the sky is blue and banners are waving in the breeze.

The second day is like getting hit by your first pop quiz in math class.  I woke up to the dawn today and realized that this morning was a hill workout.  Did I really already sign up for this race?  Or can I still get out of it?  Too late.  Take out your number 2 pencil.

I  scooted out the back door and down the driveway.  Within the first 1/4 block, the back of my right knee felt stiff.  “Oh, well, I guess I shouldn’t run today” was my first thought.  I stopped and stretched, ran slowly down the block, and the tightness was gone.  Bummer.  My excuse evaporated into the muggy air. 

There is a good hill down near Lake Ellyn, a glorified retention pond in town which floods every time it rains.  I ran up and down the hill three times, imagining the homeowners laughing behind the windows in their air-conditioned houses.   But I did it.  Humiliation is not a viable excuse.

I read about a runner once who said that when she first started running, she was so embarrassed for anyone to see her that when cars drove by, she would stop and pretend that she was looking at the flowers at the side of the road.  That woman was, by the way, Joan Benoit Samuelson, who eventually won the gold medal at the first women’s Olympic marathon in 1984 in Los Angeles.

“…let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…”  Hebrews 12.1