They say that some of the best things in life are worth waiting for, working for - I have joked that the best ingredient to any meal is hunger.
Today I was taking a service at Tavistock Methodist church, it must be said I was really pleased to be there and they seemed pleased that I was there also - always a good sign! The last time I was in Tavistock Sharon and I were running a 13 mile leg of the trip from Land's end to Exeter, raising money for El-Shaddai. The run was an amazing one, across beautiful moor but also largely uphill, we reckon at least 8 miles of it! I remember being 2.17 miles in and wondering if I could carry on. Sharon and I did carry on and finished in just over 2 and a half hours, yes it was gruelling but also one of the most satisfying moments of my life; beautiful scenery and an immense challenge and time spent with Sharon.
Today I drove the same route we ran, from Tavistock and this time alone. Wow it is so much easier by car, the hills seem far less significant, the experience much less extreme. Yet it was those 'extremities' that I think I missed - when we ran there were times when we looked ahead at the impossible hills and ten minutes later we looked back and wondered how we had managed it.
Today is also father's day and I received 2 books on running and one on sport's psychology - 'Bounce' - mentioned in an earlier blog. This week I ran 19 miles and I feel that I am getting somewhere, still not really any faster but I am sure that I am fitter.
I have also started to look at marathon training schedules and realised that this is going to be really hard. I have also started to talk of actually running a marathon and as my training will have to be in the late spring/early summer and I don't like running in the heat, we are seriously considering going to Reykjavik in August 2012 - I said 'we', Sharon is thinking about it too.
Do I have the hunger for this, is this worth working for? I guess I will find out.
Sunday 19 June 2011
Friday 10 June 2011
Unchosen companions
On Monday morning one of my colleagues read a reflection giving consideration to the fact that many of those we spend our time with are not specifically chosen by us.
Today I ran another 9 miles, 3 miles earlier in the week and 16 last week. Not quite the 20 a week I am aiming for but a start (when do such things stop being 'a start?') I am delighted to say that Sharon has recovered from her minor op and all is well, so today we ran together. When it comes to running Sharon is my unchosen companion.
Well that is true and it is not. Today may be the first time ever that she has struggled to keep up with me. This is a first, and I reckon, may be a last. She will soon be fit again and once again I will be trailing in her footsteps complaining and moaning about the pain and 'are we nearly there yet?'
I say unchosen because although we decided to choose to run together on Friday mornings I would have liked to have been able to choose someone slower, someone whom I could run with but run within myself. Running with Sharon is difficult, I have to put more effort in, I want to keep up and keep going. Running with Sharon has been hard for me but it has started (notice the 'started' again)to make me a better runner. She never moans about having to slow down for me either.
Whilst on holiday last week I read a really interesting book by Sally Vickers 'The other side of you', it is a tale of an encounter between a failed suicide and her psychiatrist; neither 'chooses' the company of the other. Together they recount shared experiences and recollect their encounter with Caravaggio's 'Supper at Emmaus' and the presence of a shared stranger, another 'unchosen companion'. In the book and on the Emmaus road the recollections lead to a new understanding and renewed hope in living life.
So today I am so glad that Sharon is running with me again, I am determined to keep up with her. I am also so glad for those I journey with in various aspects of my life: family, friends, colleagues, my disciple group, church friends, travelling together, often unchosen. Sometimes the journeying is pleasurable and easy, other times fraught and difficult yet, it seems, always worthwhile and invariably with something to share.
Today I ran another 9 miles, 3 miles earlier in the week and 16 last week. Not quite the 20 a week I am aiming for but a start (when do such things stop being 'a start?') I am delighted to say that Sharon has recovered from her minor op and all is well, so today we ran together. When it comes to running Sharon is my unchosen companion.
Well that is true and it is not. Today may be the first time ever that she has struggled to keep up with me. This is a first, and I reckon, may be a last. She will soon be fit again and once again I will be trailing in her footsteps complaining and moaning about the pain and 'are we nearly there yet?'
I say unchosen because although we decided to choose to run together on Friday mornings I would have liked to have been able to choose someone slower, someone whom I could run with but run within myself. Running with Sharon is difficult, I have to put more effort in, I want to keep up and keep going. Running with Sharon has been hard for me but it has started (notice the 'started' again)to make me a better runner. She never moans about having to slow down for me either.
Whilst on holiday last week I read a really interesting book by Sally Vickers 'The other side of you', it is a tale of an encounter between a failed suicide and her psychiatrist; neither 'chooses' the company of the other. Together they recount shared experiences and recollect their encounter with Caravaggio's 'Supper at Emmaus' and the presence of a shared stranger, another 'unchosen companion'. In the book and on the Emmaus road the recollections lead to a new understanding and renewed hope in living life.
So today I am so glad that Sharon is running with me again, I am determined to keep up with her. I am also so glad for those I journey with in various aspects of my life: family, friends, colleagues, my disciple group, church friends, travelling together, often unchosen. Sometimes the journeying is pleasurable and easy, other times fraught and difficult yet, it seems, always worthwhile and invariably with something to share.
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