The roads here in Nephi Utah are wide open. It is proving to be a great place to train for my next Ironman Triathlon. The town's population of 5,231, makes it possible for me to run and ride on miles and miles of well maintained roads without hardly ever seeing another person or motorized vehicles. This makes it very easy for me to get lost in my thoughts. The hypnotic sound of my feet hitting the pavement provides a great escape from the physical nature of running, and transitions me into a world mesmerizing visions.
Today, I knew where I wanted to run. On Friday, I scouted out a 13 mile loop that incorporated some of the nearby hills. About three miles of this new route is uphill on one of the busier highways. The speed limit on that road is 65 miles an hour and since I was on foot, I wanted to avoid it as much as possible. I took a road that was a couple of blocks south and started up the hill. I knew that on this particular road, I could get about half way up the hill. I decided to take it up as far as I could and then cross over to the busier highway.
I reached the crossroad that I knew if I headed north would take me over to the busier road. I had not scouted the road I was on any further than where I was at, so I did not know if there would be another road up ahead that would take me to the busier road. From where I was at, I could see the point on the hill that I wanted to reach. I could see that if I continues on the road I was on the pavement would end in about a mile, but I could not see if there would be another road heading north.
Pressing Forward
I could see that there were some houses up ahead and so I just imagined that there would be a north/south road that would take me to the busier road. I decided to keep running on the east/west road. When I reached the end of the pavement, the road that I had hoped for was not there. Rather than turn around, I continued running. About a mile later, the nice dirt road that I was on turned into an even more rustic looking road. The grass was high on both sides and in the middle.
The road now looked like two tire tracks. The grass was up to my waist. For some reason I decided to continue forward, thinking that up ahead there would be a similar road that would cross over to the highway. I was being peppered by crickets and the further I went down the road the more I began to worry about snakes. Yet I kept moving forward hoping that there would be a road.
I thought a lot about just running cross country over to the road, but there were too many fences to make that a viable possibility. Unfortunately for me, the road I was on finally came to a dead end and there was no way for me to continue forward without running through fences and hay fields. The north/south road was now at least two miles behind me. Because of my stubbornness, I had to back track. The whole detour was going to cost me four miles, which meant that I would not be able to run the route that I envisioned.
Strengths Can Become Weaknesses
One of my strengths, is my ability to stick with things. That particular strength has helped me many times to accomplish extraordinary feats. I must admit though that sometimes this particular strength has made life difficult for me. This was one of those times. I was now up the proverbial creek without a paddle and my only recourse was to turn around and face the facts that I had made a mistake.
Everything Can Be Fixed
Obviously, the price I had to pay in this instance was really not that big of a deal. My goal for the day was to run 13 miles and all I really had to do now was choose a different route to get my miles in. This got me thinking about the other times when I followed an erroneous path. I realized once again that everything can be fixed. When the moment I realize I have erred arrives, I basically have two choices. I can fall down on the ground and cry and ask why does this always happen to me, or I can ask myself what am I going to do about this? I have found that looking for a way out is a much better solution than feeling guilty and blaming myself for my actions.
It is true that I caused the problem, but I am also capable of finding the way out of it. All I have to worry about is staying positive and moving forward. Too many of us spend too much time beating ourselves up for stupid decisions and foolish actions. Life is a journey and there will be many times when we will run ourselves into dead ends like I did today. That only means that we need to turn around and find a new way. It does not mean that we are finished and that we can no longer progress.
Turning Around
There are a lot of us in trouble right now. Many of us feel like we have reached a dead end. If you are one of those people, I want you to pause for a moment and ask yourself the following question: "what can I do today to turn things around? How can I find a new road that will take me where I want to go? You may discover that you have to back track, that is Ok. You may also discover that you have now added miles to your journey. Just remember that the joy is in the journey. Be willing to move forward and you will learn many new things as a result of the new route you will discover. It is at the turn when home comes into view. Don't look now, but you are making progress.
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