Say whatever you want because I can laugh it off...

I don't know how to start this post...so I'm going to ramble for a little bit and just go with it.

Things that are going on right now:

1. One of my mom's best friends from when I was a kid just had surgery for cancer and is going into chemotherapy in the next couple weeks. I haven't seen her in four years. Yet, you know what she asked of my mom? She asked if she could have a picture of what my brother and I look like now. I've known Myra since I was literally one year old and its sort of sad that I haven't seen her in such a long time. Its funny too, my brother and I spent a lot of time with her but the two biggest things I can remember about those times we spent together are peanut butter cookies and stamps. As a kid I loved peanut butter but for some reason the idea of peanut butter cookies sounded awful to me. I mean how can you say that peanut butter is going to beat chocolate in a cookie? But Myra always managed to make the best peanut butter cookies. The ones she made are probably the only ones I've ever liked. The stamp thing had to do with Myra making any card she ever sent from scratch using a bunch of different stamping techniques. My brother and I went through a stage where we loved to collect random different rubber stamps to make up these crazy cards and pictures. We did it because it was just fun and we probably got taught some pretty cool stuff by Myra. But when I look back on things like that I realize how lucky I was to have people in my life who supported me being creative, even if it wasn't very good stuff. My parents were always supportive of that, but having people besides your parents supporting you being creative just adds to your ability to push your imagination. I don't think everyone gets that growing up. Having that basis in being creative doesn't just restrict it to being artistic, but also not being afraid to look at things from different angles. Anyway, I hope that I can someday thank Myra for that, and that she has the quickest recovery possible.

2. Chris Sr. (Chris' Father) had a kidney transplant last week. He and the entire family had been waiting for this for a long time, so it was great to hear he was finally getting it. He's struggled through dialysis and its good to know that he's not going to have to go through that anymore. Times like that make you realize how close everyone at Pacers is, they were relying on the rest of us who couldn't be up there with Chris Sr. to take care of their family business. I know Wade and I definitely took that very seriously, we just care about the store. We show it in different ways for sure, I mean he's completely taken ownership of that store. It is his and he's going to do everything he can to make it better. I don't think the things I do are as visible (and I'm perfectly fine with that), work is never going to be a thing that is all about me and what I did. If I did something that helped something work more efficiently or created a situation for the business to improve then that's good enough.

3. The frickin' hip. More of an annoyance than anything, its still tight but I think I'm going to be good to do some workouts on it and keep my fitness up. Its actually felt a lot better the last couple days. But all I can think about is racing. I want to race. I want to look back at running 3:55 and say that was a start but I've come a long way. BUT...as I keep saying, that doesn't happen overnight. If running was easy, or if all you had to do was make sure you ran everyday and showed up to practice then there would be tons of people doing it. Running isn't easy. It's never going to be. I'm usually not a big one for quotes (unless they're coming from song lyrics but that's just because I listen to way too much music) but there has been one that has stuck with me in regards to the mile. The guy who said it probably had no intention of having it apply to running but I think it sticks pretty well. "Effort is only effort when it begins to hurt"
I don't think it just applies to the physical pain of running either. You've got to want to run, (not saying you're not going to wake up most mornings and say "I'm definitely the luckiest person in the world to be going for a run right now, forget the fact that I haven't had a day off in however many months and my body is saying eff you right now). There just has to be a part of you that thinks you can do better, that you can still put more effort in than you already have. Otherwise, whats the point? If you just barely go sub 4 in the mile, do you sit back and say "Look at me, I ran 3:59"..no, no way. You probably show up to practice the next day and try to figure out what the plan is going to be to run 3:57.

I know this post has been all over the place, but I think what I'm getting at is; there are millions of things in life that are going to trip you up. Plenty more that are going to knock you on your ass and then continue to step on you. But every time you think you have it the worst, I guarantee there is someone else in the world that is having a rougher time than you. Life, like running, is never going to be easy. At some point hopefully you get to create a situation where finances aren't a major worry, but there's always something else. I mean even when you become financially sound you still have kids and family to take care of and worry about. The point is, sometimes you have to look around outside your own little cares and worries and realize that maybe you don't have it so bad. Maybe you're putting in a little bit of effort each day that might get you somewhere someday. Maybe you're luckier than you think.