A Different Path

A Different Path

            A typical day for me is a morning that consists of some type of training. Saturday I woke and had my usual breakfast of coffee and a banana, got dressed and headed out for a run. But this day was different, I was staying at my in-laws place in Grass Lake, and I was running by myself. So I only planned on doing 6 miles since I was out in the country and really wasn’t familiar with the surroundings. As I took off in the humid morning, I was thankful that I coated myself with bug spray as I was running in a dense tree lined area. The bugs swarmed and followed me, circling my head just waiting for an opportunity to dive bomb me and suck my blood. I must of looked silly flailing my hands around my face to swat some of the bigger bugs, like the giant horse flies! SHO FLY!

            2.5 miles in to the run, I was supposed to turn to the right, but when I looked down to the left, it looked intriguing, so I took a different path, and headed into the unknown. This new direction was lovely, filled with rolling hills, horses, weeping willow trees, and lovely farms as far as the eye could see. There were some homes that were quite run down, and yes my thoughts did wander to the scenes of deliverance with the banjo song along with some other scary scenarios. But I quickly laughed, looked around, and kept running forward.  Each step I took was exhilarating; I felt a mix of emotions swinging from uneasy to relaxed. I felt like an explorer setting eyes on a new horizon, because now I found a new path that not only was challenging, but peaceful. I kept thinking about what if I didn’t make that decision to change the course of my run, how I would of missed out on such a beautiful area, and it made me think of people who never step outside of their comfort zones. How very sad I was for them. I think every manager, CEO, and president should be forced to run long distances by themselves, because as a lot of you know, when you do this, you solve all of the worlds’ problems, and you feel great about them when you finish. It’s the most liberating feeling ever.

            People ask me all the time, why do you run for so long, how can you do all that training, how do you find time to do it, how do you know so many people who do those same things, don’t you get bored? And I’ve always answered with a shrug of my shoulders and just say, because I love doing it, and I have found a great group of friends that love doing the same thing as me. But if I analyze this question more, I realize that I do it because I’m young at heart, I love to play, and that when you play, you always find others that like to play too. Yes training is a lot of hard work, and can be tedious and lonely at times, but all of that pales to the pure enjoyment of running and training with friends.  When was the last time you ran in a slow falling snow storm, or in the hills of a single wide cross country trail away from everything, when do you laugh and act silly for hours on a regular basis, or jump and run in mud puddles, when do you race really fast on your bike downhill and feel the wind rush over you, or get soaking wet in a rain storm???? These are things that I get to do regularly with my friends, which I wouldn’t give up for the world. Being a kid at heart and acting like one is the best gift I have ever given myself.

            So back to the idea of taking a different path, I really like to encourage people to try stepping out of their normal routine and to try something different, uncomfortable, and sometimes scary. Because when you do this, you just might find out how much you enjoy that experience. Life is too short not to try everything once and to discover what you’re true talents may be. My change of path took me from a 6 mile run to a 12 mile run, and I loved every minute of it; aside from the bugs that stayed with me the whole way! So ask yourself, when was the last time I truly stepped out of my shell, when have I thrown caution to the wind and loved it? If you can’t say you have done this recently, then look for new opportunities where you can do this. If anyone has any stories to share about what you have done recently, I would love to hear about them!