The following story happened on yesterday’s run. Today, as I was again running, I reflected on yesterday’s interaction and these are the two lessons I received.

Four and a half miles in, I ran past a gentleman whacking weeds around headstones in the cemetary. We both said good morning. He said, “Stay hydrated.” I said, “I will” A few paces later, he said, “Hey, you want a bottle of water?” I replied, “Nah, I’m good. I’ll be done in another mile and a half. But, thanks!”

I am a giver. I’m not good at receiving. I like to share, but I am not always comfortable taking. Here’s the thing, that young man wanted to bless me with something he had. He saw an opportunity to help a fellow man. Part of me feels bad for robbing him of that. Sometimes it’s okay to take something when it is offered.

LESSON ONE: Take the water!

At the point that he offered me the water, I thought that I was almost finished my run. Instead of 1.5 more miles, God redirected my steps for another 3.5 miles. When I was finished, I wasn’t just thirsty, I was a bit dehydrated. Sometimes an opportunity comes out of nowhere; sometimes you don’t realize you need what is being offered. When we choose to ignore what is being offered, we might regret is later.

LESSON TWO: Take the water!

Dear David,

I went for a run today. 5 miles. I ran through the cemetery. I often do. I took the loop past your grave. I often do that, too. As I ran past today, I thought, “Man, I really should stop by your grave sometime, I haven’t for a really long time.” At least ten years. A few paces later, I lost all my energy. Depleted. I had to stop and walk for a moment. Then suddenly, I turned around and walked straight back to your headstone. I found it easily, a dark stone with a painter’s palette. I cried. In the middle of a 5 mile run. 3.5 miles in; I cried. Only for a few seconds, but I cried hard. As quickly as my energy zapped away, it came back and I started running again. As soon as I started running, it snowed on me for about 60 seconds, then stopped. I ran the rest of the way, deep in thought.

Damn it, Dave, why? If you would have asked, I would have told you I loved you.

Damn it, Christopher! Why did I need an invitation to tell him I loved him.

I knew you for 6 years, David. It has now been 17 years since you left us. You have been gone about three times as long as I knew you. You had a huge effect on my life. You still do. I wish you knew how much you were loved. I wish you would have told more people how much you loved them.

Peace to you, David Lee Moats

Love,

Christopher

Dear Christopher,

Learn from this. There was a reason for this today. I am not sure the entire meaning, but I do know a few things. Part of our plan for being on this earth is to touch the people around us; to show them love; to help them find peace. To lift them up; to encourage them.

Some folks don’t fully understand the impact they have on the people around them. Remind them. Remind them that there is at least one person (likely many more) who will be much more hurt by their loss than by their presence. Let them know that while they think they don’t have much to offer, that is a lie they are telling themselves. Not only do they have lots to offer today, as they continue through their life, there will be more and more people that will be effected by them.

If they choose to leave this life early, they are depriving the world of something awesome. Once they get through this thing, they have great things to accomplish.

Anyway, these are my thoughts for now, I don’t know how to articulate further. I don’t know the exact words to express how I feel.

What I do know is that I don’t want other people to know this feeling, so I need to remind myself that I need to show love relentlessly!

Me

I am a Clydesdale Runner. I have always run at a Rudy pace. Never the fastest one. Never won a race, unless it was against my younger sister. Although now, I’m sure she would beat me whatever the distance!

I’m a Clydesdale Runner. I learned it at a very early age. I can remember racing my friends from telephone pole to telephone pole. The fast guys always beat me. The slow guys always beat me. For a few years, I could still outrun my sister. I hated to run!

I became a runner at 36. It was my wife’s idea. She wanted to run the JFK 50-miler. I agreed to train with her. But, I told her I would not do a 50 mile run. It would take me four days to run that far. I am a Clydesdale Runner.

I started out going for a couple jogs. Then I read some running magazines and realized you don’t jog when you are a runner. I went out and bought a GPS watch. Actually it was a gift for my wife, that she didn’t want. It was this big clunky brick strapped to my wrist. But it was much more accurate then driving my car through a route, then running the route with a stopwatch.

I kept running with that Garmin 205. I kept reading articles. I found a good half marathon training regimen. And I started getting serious. After a couple runs and one very important article about race horses, I realized something. I am a Clydesdale Runner.

I was a Clydesdale Runner. I hated it. I rejected it. But no matter how I trained, no matter how hard I tried, I was still a Clydesdale Runner.

I have run a bunch of 5Ks, a couple of 10Ks, a 10 miler, and 5 half marathons. Aside from one 5K, which I ran with a 9.5 minute mile average, I have never run a sub-10 minute mile average. More like 11 or 12 minutes. I am a Clydesdale Runner.

I am a Clydesdale Runner. I have learned to accept it. I have come to embrace it. Although, I am not always in a state of ’embracement’. The problem is, I have a fast runner’s mind and a fast runner’s heart, trapped in a slow runners body. Scratch that, I’m not allowed to say slow runner.

I am a Clydesdale Runner. For many of us when we were younger, we learned it all wrong. We learned faster was better. We learned stronger was better. We learned bigger was better. That’s not entirely true. Endurance plays a role. Attitude plays a role.

There is a fine line between accepting who you are and doing something to better yourself.

I may embrace it today. I may not admit tomorrow.

I am a Clydesdale Runner.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton