These are the stats from my latest long run. Yesterday I managed to clock 11 miles at a pretty conservative pace, which isn't bad for going more than a week since my last long run.
For some reason, that run left me ACHING more than past long runs. Maybe it was because I did it in the evening. Maybe it's because the weather is getting cooler. Or maybe I'm just getting a little out of shape. Either way, I decided to take it easy today.
This coming Sunday, October 20th, I'm running the Tough Mudder again, again with my friend Doug. He's the only guy I know crazy enough to want to do such a thing with me not once, but twice. Last October, one of the event photographers managed to snap this amazing picture of me after I emerged from a dumpster full of ice water.
Clearly, I was thrilled to be there.
Today also marks a pretty important milestone. Four months ago to the day, HIllary and I went on what we called our first official "date" to see Here Come the Mummies in concert at Buster's here in Lexington (wow, that's a lot of links in one sentence). That's four months of happiness after a year and a half of battles, heartache, anger, frustration, and plain ole' weariness.
Looking at where I am now, I can see God's plans through it all. And so can she.
The Tough Mudder is famous for its notorious final obstacle: electroshock therapy, where contestants dash through hanging live electrical wires. But last year there was one more obstacle that I sometimes forget, when remembering the insanity of that day. It was a crawl up a muddy hill that had been embedded with tractor tires. And it was on this final obstacle that I found a large crowd.
One guy, in the middle of the group, had cracked some ribs somewhere on the dangerous, rough-and-tumble, 13-mile course. His face was set in a painful grimace with every movement, but still he pressed onward. All around him people offered to help, to carry him over the tires. Sometimes he accepted their help, but sometimes he'd refuse: the wrong movements could jostle his cracked ribs, putting him in even more pain.
My separation and subsequent divorce were like a bellyfull of cracked ribs. I carried them around with me for a long time, their dull ache making every movement like knives. Just when I thought the pain had finally ebbed away, I'd make one wrong move, and suddenly feel the pain as fresh as ever.
Even though I don't feel the sting of those old injuries anymore, I still remember how much they hurt. But I guess that's a good thing. If I don't remember the pain, remember why it was there and learn what I can do to prevent it in the future, then the whole experience would have been a waste. But I've grown through it all; as a man, as a partner in a relationship, and in my faith in God.
I can now clearly see God's plan that got me through those times. If I had been able to see God's end result through the pain, it would have made the pain a little more bearable... but I would not have learned as much, and I wouldn't be the man that God has forged me into because of it.
So as I prep for this upcoming Tough Mudder, I remember the place I am in now, and where I was a year ago. Whether I'm in as good shape as I was last year is yet to be seen... but I am certainly more whole now than I was then. With the emotional cracked ribs finally healed, I simply need to avoid cracking any literal ribs.
And I'm taking a waterproof disposable fun camera with me, to chronaloge the whole thing.
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