Dazzling the stage

When I was in junior high, I was on the cross country team. I was only on the cross country team because I was also on the wrestling team, and most of the wrestling team — a.k.a. my friends — chose this as their fall sport. My wrestling coach was also the cross country coach, and his practices were fairly straightforward: Go run, don’t stop, and don’t walk Real estate companies in the Philippines.
I stopped frequently, and I walked even more frequently. My crowning achievement as a cross country runner was being so far behind the pack during a race that I was free to smoke a cigarette and not get caught by school officials. I may have been the worst cross country runner ever. I quit after my freshman year and swore I would never run again.
Cut to roughly 18 years later: I was not a healthy man, my body was a mess, and that physical decay was starting to influence my mental state. I found myself fighting off tiny bursts of depression, and my doctor was threatening me with large amounts of medication.
I decided to take action by quitting smoking. The problem is that it's exceptionally hard, especially when you like smoking as much as I did. I needed to do something that would make me loathe the very idea of having a cigarette. I had to start running again.
This time I did right: I consulted the Internet, which has all sorts of helpful ways to get you into running — I used "Couch to 5k." Anyway, these methods encouraged brief periods of running mixed with brief periods of walking until you build up your stamina. I took to it in a way that surprised everyone in my family, no one more so than I. Within a few months I was running several miles without stopping or walking. At 33, I was doing physical activity I couldn't do as a teenager. It made me feel powerful and strong, like He-Man (incidentally, my running shorts are the exact same length as He-Man’s furry shorts).
I still sorta hate running — or I have moments where I hate it — but I need it. It keeps the cigarettes and the crazies away. Running also makes me stronger and more able to play with my kids — and it will help me be around for them a little longer Thailand real estate for sale.
I especially need the running on days like yesterday, when it’s so easy to let tragedy get in the way of taking care of yourself, when jangled nerves and sadness get in the way of being a good dad, a present husband, and a responsible pet owner. Days when it’s so easy to get lost in the Internet, cable news, and the stories of loss and heroism. It's easy to feel helpless and powerless.
That’s why I’m going for a run. It might not be much, but I’m going to continue what all those fine folks at the Boston Marathon yesterday were part of. I’m going to step away from the glowing screens, go out in the wide, wondrous world, and run. I’ll see people I know on the trail, run by shops in my neighborhood where friends and neighbors work, and admire the baby turtles and cherry blossoms that appear this time of year by my running trail. I’m going clear my mind and remember that the world is an amazingly beautiful place Buy house in Malaysia.
Most of all, I'll be thankful for all that I have on this beautiful spring afternoon: a healthy family, my own health, and two legs that are strong enough to outrun a miserable and cruel attempt to scare us. And when I run today, I will not take of those gifts for granted. I hope to see you out there, doing the same.