Monday, April 18, 2016

Human After All

I've had a few people ask about my running recently, so here's an update ... it's almost nonexistent.  The past few months have been a challenge, but hopefully I'm back ... but better than before.

I got really sick in February.  I thought it was a cold at first, but it lasted for about five weeks and kept me in bed on many different days.  It was to the point that I was really starting to worry something was seriously wrong.  I got checked at the doctor and everything was fine, but it took a while before I had the energy to do much.

I tried to stay active during the illness, but it was almost impossible.  I've ran through almost every kind of sickness and minor injury over the past ten years ... but this one kicked my butt.  It was the one thing that kept me from running for an extended period of time.  During the down time, and the weeks that followed, I gained about 15 pounds.   I was 191 on the scale yesterday.  I lost motivation and really didn't care much about anything besides my family, work, and Royals baseball ... they are the reigning World Champs ya know!  But I think I'm finally back at it.

With the exception of no control of my diet, I've actually been moving a little more lately.  I'm trying to build back my mileage, and slowly get back into shape. We ran a half marathon a couple of weeks ago, and besides my time being my third slowest half marathon ever ... 1:37:02 ... surprisingly I didn't feel too bad afterwords.  It was a little surreal watching runners blow by me who I done the same to in the past, but we're just at different points in our journey right now.

I think the illness was a much needed wake up call for me. Overall, I try to be kind and caring to people, but unfortunately, many times I can flat out be a jerk.  Too often I get full of myself and consumed with "being the best", and don't treat people like I should.  I train really really hard, but I get prideful about it.  I convince myself that there aren't many guys my age doing what I'm doing, and my head gets really inflated.  It's stupid, immature, and small. Getting knocked flat on my back reminded me that I'm human and vulnerable like everyone else ... and it can all be taken from us in the blink of an eye.

So I'm trying balance being competitive ... with humbleness and kindness.  I gotta tell ya, it's a bit of a challenge.  I used to try to focus on the fruits of the Spirit ... love, joy, peacefulness, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control ... found in Galatians 5:22-23 if you're interested.  But over the years, that has eroded a bit.  I need to practice a little less beating my chest, and a lot more thankfulness and humility.   I've be blessed with the best life ever, and am trying to express that outwardly a lot more than I do.  But don't get me wrong, I'm still gonna run hard, lol.  I just need to do it with a little less vibrato ... and shrink a little around the waist first.  Have a great day!  

12 comments:

  1. Having a couple of hip surgeries (plus regular old aging) took me down a notch or two - not that I ever put myself in the "fast" group, but I used to just assume, "Oh, I can keep up with her" or "She won't beat me" - ha. Not anymore. If I try to chase others whom my old self could race, I'll just fall apart now.
    Anyway. I don't think you're a jerk. You're just reasonably competitive.

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  2. I'm glad you're bouncing back (though I didn't think it could ever be any other way with you, not for long at least). And I WISH I could run half in 1:37:02!

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  3. I am glad to hear you are back. I am not running right now due to injury, but I have been missing your writing.

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  4. I am glad to hear you are back. I am not running right now due to injury, but I have been missing your writing.

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  5. You are proof that onee can be both ultra cometititve and humble. Glad that you are on the upswing Jim.

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  6. I think we all get that memo that we're only human at some point or other. I'm glad to hear that you're on your way back again.

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  7. Welcome back Jim. Glad to see you are running again. I have a feeling you'll get your fitness back soon enough. Can't wait to read what happens next.

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  8. Guess your body just took a rest without your permission. Glad your back, I know how that feels! Last December I just stopped running because I felt like I was trying to swim out of hole and always felt crappy. I changed my diet and now I’m running and feeling fantastic. Keep up the good work!

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  9. Jim, Glad you're back on the pavement, I look forward to your reports! Here is some life advice from the film The End of The Tour. I sometimes repeat this to myself, because I can get very inpatient with people quickly and turn into a jerk which I always immediately regret:

    https://youtu.be/DBk1Mrb4RyM?t=1m50s

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  10. You're back! Glad everything is okay. Sucks that you were sick but maybe it was your body's way of telling you that you needed to slow down and binge-watch Netflix for a bit, eh? It's all good (that's me, trying to be zen, lol). Looking forward to more of your blog posts. P.S. Just don't get too kind and humble, okay? Edginess and drive keeps us interesting.

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  11. hate to hear you were so sick but glad you are getting back in the swing of things!
    welcome back to the land of the living!!!

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