The weather is getting cooler, which means that running season is getting into full swing. I don't have to punish myself with 5AM morning runs before work anymore. Afternoons are cooler, the sun is setting earlier. Not to mention that Lexington is finally listening to my ravings by adding...
... sidewalks to Tates Creek Road!
I've been running Tates Creek Road for a while now in an attempt to extend my milage. Put simply, Lexington has never been a city extremely friendly to its runners. Sidewalks in residential neighborhood simply end, or switch to the opposite side of the road (often over very busy, multi-lane roads). This has forced me to run in the narrow strip of concrete between the painted white line and the curb, which is sometimes too narrow to keep my feet inside. But now I have the luxury of a sidewalk, that runs nearly the distance from my house to the Chevy Chase area!
Since my last post, I've logged quite a few miles, including my first long runs since summer. Trying to keep my milage up is a struggle, though. There are only so many hours in a day, and I'm working literally twice as hard in my teaching job this year as I was last year. Not to mention that I'm still trying to learn to play guitar, still the assistant youth pastor, and spending more time with Hillary than ever.
But I don't mind giving of my time to her and the girls. I wish I had more to give, in fact. My relationship with her has really shown that God will make all things work together for our good; even (no, especially) the hurtful, out-of-control events of our lives.
2013 has been a much better year than 2012 was. Regular readers of this blog will remember the long break I took while I started divorce proceedings, and the lengthy explanation I gave as to my absence. Finally, after trying to go it on my own more than a year ago, and waiting for an attorney to do his magic for almost six months, my divorce was finalized on September 30th, 2013; eight years TO THE DAY that my now ex-wife and I started dating.
My brother, Aaron, told me that it was an appropriate bookend to that old portion of my life. I have to agree that there's a finality to it now, one I've wanted for a long time now. I wasn't sad; I'd spent months and months being sad, and that wasn't a road I was going down again. I had been divorced on all ground except legal for a long time.
While we were both waiting on the confirmation of our divorces, Hillary and I joked that we'd frame the paperwork and hang them side-by-side on a wall together someday. And although I'm glad it's over, I find myself not wanting to celebrate the divorce. Divorce is nothing anyone should have to go through, although statistics show that half of all Americans will have to. So I'm just going to put the paperwork into a folder, file it away somewhere for safe keeping, and move on with my new life.
Also... did you know that pawn shops won't buy a tungsten ring? Turns out that they only buy jewelry for the meltdown value, and tungsten has a melting point of over 3400 degrees F. So I guess it's a perfect metaphor for a functional marriage! But now it appears I'm stuck with an indestructible wedding band, size 8, that cannot be unmade by anything less than the fires of Mount Doom.
So, it's on Craigslist, if anyone is looking. :)
Until next post, which will not take me so long to create: may the road rise to meet you, and may the wind always be at your back. It makes running that much easier.
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