Not just the destination; it is the journey!
A friend of mine is planning to run his first marathon. Interestingly enough, not more than a year ago this same friend was overweight and expressed concern about his lack of energy. It has been wonderful to see him shed many pounds, tone up and have a bounce in his step! Last week he asked if I would run with him so he could get 16 miles which would be his longest continuous run ever, and of course I obliged.
My friend wanted to start promptly at 9 AM and the night before we aligned that if I was not at our agreed upon starting point (downtown Sac to American River bike trail) right at 9, he’d get started knowing I’d catch up to him. I arrived about 10 minutes after 9 and after parking my car I headed to the trail entrance and got started. I caught up to my friend about a mile up the trail and after making a couple snide remarks about his legs needing a bit more exposure to sunlight, we proceeded to run along.
His minute per mile pace was a bit slower than I’m accustomed to running so I would run ahead and loop back, then run a bit opposite way (back where we had just came) and then turn back to catch up and pass him again (staying true to form making a snide remark because hey, that’s what friend’s do!). I was thinking as a ran along how great it was being out there, that he asked me to run with him and that we were both on our respective journey’s to be better, fit and achieve a new level of achievement (for him, running his first marathon and for me, testing for my black belt) but also knowing there will be more experiences along the way!
He got his 16 miles and I got another 17.25 on my journey toward my black belt.