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| Running at Malibu |
When I reported for active duty, in the Army, in January of 1970, I was presented with a life changing experience that helped define me without me even knowing it. Within two weeks of arrival, we were toting a full pack and a M-16 rifle (each weighing about 15 and 6.5 pounds, respectfully) to the rifle range which was a mere 10 miles from our barracks. We did not walk to the range, we force-marched, we double-timed and we ran. With Drill Instructors yelling at us, you did not take the time to tender your dislike of running under duress of this sort, for fear of retaliation on you and your whole company.
After the second day of running to the range, our drill Sergeant came to three of us…. Bill Duncan, John McGee and me. He simplify asked (ordered) us to run at the rear of our Company for one reason. We were to make sure NO ONE got behind us, that no man was allowed to drop out and we were fully responsible for making sure everyone made it to the range. You can imagine the pride we felt for being recognized as the strongest runners in the Company until we surveyed the barracks that night and realized how many of the men were out of shape or just plain wimps.
For the next three weeks, the “Three Musketeer’s” as we were called, literally dragged, prodded, kicked, yelled at, and on many occasions, CARRIED men to the range. The defining moment for me was realizing that the “invisible” barrier that held me back over my first 20 years of life (and would have stopped me from performing my duties, otherwise) was really VERY “visible.” The Barrier had clearly been me. I learned in those three weeks, what real duty is all about, how we can push ourselves beyond belief and how a positive or negative attitude can effect you. Here I was, on December 31, 2011 at the rear of the pack of about 500 runners, experiencing the “Barrier” again and shouldering a bad attitude.
It is said that competing, winning and succeeding is all about attitude; it is about attempts to do your best, to struggle, to exert effort, and certainly to never give up! And yet, in the last month or so I had run a bit out of gas and my will to compete has been overshadowed by my lack of will to prepare for these races. It was becoming a bit of a generic experience.
A bad attitude tends to enhance distemper, which I have plenty. And yet, my reflections on those three weeks, over 42 years ago, reminded me that even though I have developed many “trip wires" that cause me to run smack dab into not believing in myself, I can succeed. So I ran both races, at the rear of the pack, thinking of Bill and John, (and having my friend, Holly, text me that I should quit acting like a princess and run anyway) and what we did when we knew we had to succeed. I also was able to embrace being at the rear of the pack, at this point in my life, and not always worrying about coming in 30 minutes later than my previous average times. Two back surgeries have to be reckoned with whether I like it or not and being horribly introspective, self-centered and cynical was not helping my cause. I completed both races, with a smile on my face.
Thank you for reading these insane, self-absorbed accounts over the last five years. I pray that you will have a wonderful 2012 and not let that “invisible” barrier get in the way of a successful and winning year!!!
PS: The race medal is so cool. See the pictures below. For each race, we got half a medal. We were then given a plate of about five inches in diameter where those medals could sit... and display the pride of finishing both races within 24 hours of each other. I had a one-and-a-half hour massage between the races which may have saved me from obliteration.
Prayer List: I prayed for lots of folks over the 26.2 miles I ran this New Year's weekend. I carried my e-mail list (about 500 names) with me thinking and praying for each of you and a wonderful 2012!!
