Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Running

I like to run. Until this summer, it had been awhile since I ran on a consistent basis. Even now though, I'm not all that consistent. In an attempt to earn back an iota of former physical "glory," I have come to the depressing realization that that would not happen anytime soon. So, I started getting complacent, a nice word for lazy. Boy how easily the excuses came each morning: "It's too much of a hassle to run in the rain...Gosh, it sure looks windy out today...I'll use this morning to catch up from the weekend and start up again tomorrow..." Pretty soon, I wasn't running anymore.

Then, just yesterday I saw a story on the news that changed it all. There was a small boy, about 4 or 5 years old who was born without knees. He had to have his legs amputated to this thighs. He grew up having about as normal of a life as he could without legs, but his parents could see how much he desperately wanted to be outside, running and playing with the other kids. The doctors thought it would never work, but they fit him with a pair of those "blades," the curved, metallic extensions that seem to spring as you step. The look on his face when he began to bound down the hall broke your heart and lifted it at the same time. It was determination and elation all in one. He could run. He raced his doctor and anyone else willing to toe the starting line. Before long ran a mile long race of his own...smiling with every step.

It was such an inspiration that it shamed me. For twenty some odd years I have had the ability to run any time I wanted. There has never been anything to stop me except the excuses I made. It made me think not only of my legs, but how many other things I take for granted every day. I stopped with the excuses, and you can be sure that my butt was on the road this morning and will be tomorrow as well...smiling with every step.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Josh. Just found your blog. Your writing is fun to read, and I enjoyed reading the previous posts.

I've been longing to be a competitive runner again. I get out the door, but have a hard time doing the 'tough' workouts. I hear myself saying "how about nice and easy today" over and over again. You're right, we shouldn't take advantage of healthy bodies.

John enjoyed seeing you a couple weeks ago, and raved about your wife's cooking. Just 'tossing something together' is a familiar phrase around our house.

It would be fun to get the cabin crew together again with the new women.

Have a great day!

Josh McMahan said...

Glad you are enjoying the reading, I appreciate getting comments! I'm a long ways off of being competitive for sure. It is a little depressing to think of how I used to just go out and "jog" 7-minute miles.

I was glad John got a chance to come by too. I didn't realize that it had been so long. I agree that we should try to get together a little sooner than later. Talk to you later.