Life of Running

This last weekend I had the opportunity to run 175 miles with 11 other people in the Wasatch Back Relay. It took us twenty-six and a half hours to cover this distance, averaging about a nine minute pace through high elevation, steep grades and extreme temperatures at both ends of the spectrum. Take all that and factor in very little sleep, and you have yourself a pretty interesting experiment.

Going into this relay I was only concerned about the three legs I was supposed to run. My total mileage was about 14 miles going up 2,000 ft in elevation. Since I had run a marathon a month earlier, I figure this wouldn’t be as tough so it would not be as rewarding.

For the four plus hours before I began running I had helped seven other runners along their legs, soon their pain became my pain. Once I was on the trail and my lungs started to burn and my legs began to cramp I felt a pressure I was not aware of. In all my other runs, I was doing it for myself – this time I had eleven other people depending on me, this was not just about me – I was not about to let them down.

At the end of it all, I had run less than three hours of our twenty six hour trek. My body was a little stiff, but not sore at all compared to a marathon. To my surprise this experience of participating as a team was more rewarding than the runs I had done alone. I think I can take this lesson and apply it to other aspects of my life. Many times I am reluctant to let people help me and go at many things alone. In reality I know I’ll be less tired and more rewarded if I just let some friends join me along the way.

Hungry?

It's funny how a little bit can really go a long way. The little insignificant things that we dwell on each day really do have lasting effects. I think this weekend when I cramped up on mile 17 - things really could have turned out badly. I could have ignored what my body was telling me and really put my health at risk, or I could have called in quits and walked off the course.

Neither option crossed my mind. Instead of ignoring the issue or looking for a short term solution, I just focused on the next step. I realized I needed to slow down, drink a lot of water and push on. After three miles I was able to get my legs back and finished strong. Any other day I might have gone with a different approach, but because of some people I saw along the course, I was able to keep my head in the right place. That alone, however insignificant, was enough to make all the difference.

An elder Cherokee chief took his grandchildren into the forest and sat them down and said to them, “A fight is going on inside me. This is a terrible fight and it is a fight between two wolves. One wolf is the wolf of fear, anger, arrogance and greed. The other wolf is the wolf of courage, kindness, humility and love.” The children were very quiet and listening to their grandfather with both their ears. He then said to them, “This same fight between the two wolves that is going on inside of me is going on inside of you, and inside every person.” They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked the chief, “Grandfather, which wolf will win the fight?” He said quietly, “The one you feed.”