Wondering about my Wanderings

The Race

November 9th, 2013

I sit here pondering what I learned from running a 5k race earlier in the day. My three adult children all showed.up. I was tempted to want to run ahead. My adrenaline was raging out of control in the beginning. My middle son's tender heart lulled me into staying together and not running apart as if I needed to run from something. I will admit to still feeling a pit in my stomach from a divorce some years earlier. This is the first time we have taken on a task so arduous as running 5k.

My eldest son is heavy and tends to bring up the rear physically. Michael had a foot injury only weeks before the run. He just wanted to see how well he could do. He let us know when we needed to slow down. I was amazed at his perseverance. He kept going even when he did not feel like it.

Tim was the pace setter. He set a goal for all of us. He kept us accountable for finishing in forty minutes. He kept tabs of where we were at any point in the race. Tim ran a race with me a year ago and ran well under thirty minutes. I learned a lot from Tim's desire to keep us together. I was very deeply touched. It was as if effort to keep my kids together was not enough. Like a song played by an orchestra they found their own ways to get the job done.

Julie my darling daughter. At first she was not sure she would run. She showed up last. Tim kidded Julie.
"We need your speed"
She is the youngest. As we got to the point where there was one half mile to go she tore loose. she ran to the finish line ahead of the rest of us in a very spirted sprint. The announcer shared our names as we ran neck in neck. The fact that we finished the course so close together was the victory.

My satisfaction was in having them all run with me. I had been a runner in high school and college. It was the first time that all three ran with me. I had bought the tickets to run and they found ways to get to the course. I am a very rich father. To top it off my daughter jumped my car as we drove off to better things. I can not wait until we are back together again.