It's All About Pace

Our varsity cross country team is getting ready to go to Sections this week up in Hibbing. We had a practice on Friday where we were running on some rural roads in our area and I decided to run with the team.

Usually when I run with the kids at cross country practice it's at the beginning of the season and I'm often running with the junior high students - most of whom I can keep up with (at the beginning of the season, at least). This time it was all of our varsity runners at the workout, so I started out at a pretty rapid pace (for me) because I didn't want to totally embarrass myself. I knew I would never be able to keep up with them the whole six miles, but I figured I would at least try to hang near them at the beginning. 

The rest of the group stopped to stretch after the first mile warmup, but I kept going to give myself a bit of a head start. I turned down a rural dirt road nearby that was lined with trees, all at their peak fall colors. It occurred to me that I was pushing myself for no good reason, other than to finish the task. Instead, I decided to slow down a bit and enjoy the amazing scenery. 

Suddenly, my run, which had been kind of draining, began to become a joy. I wasn't worried about pace, I was just enjoying creation, and it transformed my run.

That's often like the way we try to tackle life - we just keep pushing and striving, trying to accomplish whatever task we are working to complete. There's nothing wrong with that. It's good to have a solid work ethic. But seldom do we slow down - or even pause - and enjoy the journey. 

But when we do... it transforms our lives from a tedious chore into a joyful journey.