So i'm in Limon, Colorado. I guess at one point this was the gateway to western colorado. Now there's not much of anything. I've realized I really like running in unfamiliar territory and exploring a city or town that i've never been to.
I've also decided that this blog is just gonna contain a bunch of cliche's and over-the-top metaphors because that is the kind of stuff I think about on my run.
Well lemme tell ya, 5000 feet is a huge change from 500 feet, so I was dying from the first stride. To add a little more fun to the mix, the wind was blowing right into my face and it was all up this gradually steep slope. I wanted to quit and give up. But if I've learned anything in life it is this: walls are put up to keep the quitters out. They're put up to show how much you really want it.
So I pushed on. One painful gasp at a time. I wanted to go for a short, out-and-back run. 15 minutes out, 15 back. I was getting close to the end of my 15 out, and when I run I usually just focus forward on my goal and take little or no time to sight-see or look around, even. Well my gaze strayed to the south and I had to stop because what I saw really hit me. There was a beautiful landscape of rolling hills, a brilliantly blue sky and one of the most wonderful sun rises I had ever seen. An in the middle of these rolling hills was a single windmill, slowly spinning, collecting the wind that was slowing me down and turning it into something useful. I was taught a lot as I stood there and looked out.
Lesson learned:
1) We need to capture the winds that hold us back in life and turn them into something productive.
Sometimes (like my run today in the middle of nowhere at high elevation, uphill into the wind) we're thrown into situations we're not prepared for. Some can be difficult. We want to quit or turn around, or at least not move forward. I think we can get so caught up in our own situations (our own strong winds?) that we need to take a step back and look around. Use those winds. Control them. And then use them to do some good. We're all blessed with abilities to lead, comfort, support and guide. We need to use those abilities at all times, no matter what our personal predicaments may be. No matter what happens in life, we need to focus on being the best person possible. And that comes as we focus on helping others be the best people possible.
Today it's on to Moab, Utah and I'm sure I'll make some other analogous connection and post it on here as some deep meaningful life lesson ;)
Cool runings, everybody!
Good stuff Danny.
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