I Hope I Never Forget Today

I hope I never forget today, or, at least, that I have more days like this one. The guys and I went running our 18-miler today, up in Provo Canyon. First of all, it's late-September and, with the change in season, I was in awe, looking at how beautiful it all was. In addition to that, the weather was fantastic. Clouds would come rolling by, giving me a huge, cool shade and then drift away so that I could bask in the warm sun again and, throughout the run, it would get windy and rain a lot. It was so much fun! I kept putting on certain music when it would start raining to add to the moment (I highly suggest listening to Only One by Yellow Card when you hit your sixteenth mile, you're running under a roof of tree branches with leaves falling, wind blowing against you and rain cooling you off). Those moments were music video material, I swear! I wish I had a camera with me. I wish other people were there with me--we would have had so much fun together, running in the rain. I had a big smile on my face that I could not get rid of. I was enjoying the moment so much. I hope there are more days like today.

I am not a fan of running, I will admit. I like to run to stay in shape. I don't think it's fun, nor have I looked forward to any of our big Saturday morning runs in preparation for the marathon. I made a goal to run a marathon at the beginning of the year because I've always wanted to know if I could so I decided that I would. Now that I am pretty close, I figure that this one will be my first and last. I don't enjoy putting my body through pain but I do enjoy reaching my goals that I set.

To get my mnd off the pain, I sing. Yes, that's right, I sing while running. When no one is around, I sing as loud and long as possible. Today, there were a lot of Brian McKnight tunes that were perfect! When someone was coming up behind me or coming towards me, I just sang quieter and then went back up again. They probably thought I was crazy but that's how I roll.

Anyway, the part that I do love about running is the people I meet and get to know. I've talked with fellow runners on the track, talked about when their marathon is, how well they're doing, etc. I find out so much more than that, though. These people are so happy and excited to do this. I guess we're all doing the same thing--bettering ourselves, pushing ourselves and taking care of our bodies and just feeling great about it. Even when I hit mile seventeen, I was still smiling, saying 'Good Morning' to everyone and it came right back at me. There were so many who I saw several times that day. One man stopped me because we kept passing each other. He looked like he was in his 70's and eating a peach, happy as can be and told me that I need to stop following him around. Cute guy. Another was crazy-fit, running with me for a couple miles. He kept telling me to keep it up and would talk to me, telling me to stop and drink more water, just being way upbeat and friendly. I've never met him before on the track and he is just an example of the many great people I meet while running.

I just love being surrounded by people with the mentality of always pushing to become better and being happy and excited about it. I know their lives are hard and they struggle and get through trials but it's great to smile with them and just let it go.

One speech I love is by Will Smith. He was giving advice to children and he said that there are two very important things in life: Running and Reading. Running because you are always trying to go farther and ignore the voices in your head that tell you to stop or quit and continue to push through it. Reading because, in all history, there has been someone who has had your problems or worse and has written about it, so read and learn how to get through it. I totally agree. I guess that's one reason why I run even though I don't enjoy it.