Doing Life

It was a great holiday weekend.  The best.  My two oldest boys were chosen to play in the city's annual Fourth of July All Star Game.  A huge honor for them, so much of the weekend was centered around baseball practices and the big game, but we squeezed some other fun in too.

I have been following this blog http://bendoeslife.tumblr.com/ for a couple months.  It is a very inspiring story of a man who decided to start living life and lost 120 pounds in the process.  This video makes me tear up every time when I see the words "I can call myself a marathoner, and even an ironman, but best of all, I can call myself happy."

He is doing a tour across the country, hosting informal, free, inspiring 5K walks/runs in 31 different cities.  His brother and father by his side, sleeping on fellow bloggers couches along the way, catching a free lunch and/or a donated tank of gas when they can, all while training for another Ironman race that is scheduled four days after their tour ends.  What an amazing experience for them.  I needed to be a part of this.  I started running to prove to myself that I could do something I always thought I couldn't do.  When I heard they were coming to Detroit I had to be there.  There was only one problem......my fear of driving in Detroit.  I debated about whether or not I was going to go all the way until 9:00 a.m. on Sunday.  The run was at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday.  Finally, I told myself I was going to DO LIFE.  I was not going to let a fear of driving in the city of Detroit hold me back.  And so we went, and I didn't get lost, and I only drove the wrong way, directly into four lanes of oncoming traffic, while a cop watched, one time.

My two oldest boys ran most of the way together, finishing in just over 40 minutes.  My little one and I, well he started off in first place, took off like he had wheels, and then he wore out about 1/10 of a mile in.  For the rest of the way we held hands, skipped, had contests on who can jump farther (him), stopped and looked at the river, and just enjoyed the walk.  I've always had a fear of coming in last in a race.  This day taught me that first or last, it really doesn't matter, to just enjoy the moment, to finish.  Besides, being second to last meant we got to walk and talk with Ben a little bit.  He walks and talks with the people at the tail end of the race.  After the race, everyone goes and grabs some lunch together, but we had some more life to do.  As much as I wanted to stay, my boys wanted to go to a waterpark this weekend.

We had a good time.  They have all been wanting to run a race with me, but they all agreed that running is not "their thing" and that this will be their last race, and that is okay.  I am glad we got to share this experience together, but running is my therapy, my stress relief, something best done solo 95% of the time, but I am always glad to have company for the other 5%.

Doing Life, Together