So, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the revelation of Jesus. 1 Peter 1:23
Jim and I were on a trail run at Lake Folsom starting at the Dike 8 trailhead; 5 miles out and back on a rocky trail. I run at a steady 9:30 mile pace, seems I can run forever at that pace.
This was the first time I’d run with Jim and on the out he led and set the pace. About 3 miles into the run we came to a small hill, maybe 30 yards with 50 feet elevation gain.
About 5 yards into the hill Jim started screaming “I LOVE HILLSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!” and accelerates up the hill. Now, that’s not my mode. I’ve run for 25 years and my motto has been “slow and steady.” My first marathon, the Big Sur International Marathon, my goal was “finish on my own steam with no injuries.”
Both mottos served me will for those 25 years. Now I’m hearing Jim screaming his guts out attacking the hill and I find myself charging the hill too! Yes, “I love hillssssssss!!!!!!!!!” exploded out of me too! Felt awesome.
Well, we crested the hill and finished the run. But it got me thinking about my approach to running – safe.
It wasn’t a big leap to observe that my approach to living was the same – safe.
With running I ran safe to preserve energy and avoid injury. With living pretty much the same. Preserve energy, avoid injury – in one word – safe.
The day Jim and I ran is the day my life changed.
I moved from running to racing. A month later I ran a half marathon at the Quarries near Fremont, CA in the rain with my nephew and fellow runner Zephyr Lauder from Denver. When I say I “ran” it, that’s a lie. I raced. I knew haw fast i wanted to travel 13.1 miles. I wanted to break 2 hours. At the starting line I was pumped, like a race horse in the starting gate. I exploded when the gun went off.
Now I didn’t sprint the entire half. I ran a solid pace. It was my heart that changed and that change in my heart moved my total being from some passive 65 year old runner into a 65 year old distance racer determined to run hard, finish strong, and achieve my goal.
As it turns out I placed first in my age at a 9:33 pace, beat the next guy by over 8 minutes, and you know what?
I attacked that half. I raced I didn’t run. I left everything on the course, in the rain and the mud, and the cold. I raced.
A few things have come to me since that race.
My passive heritage
Like most men born after the industrial revolution [1890’s] we were raised by women. Dad was at the factory or the office, so mom taught us how to be a boy/man. Not all of us grew up with this heritage, but a ton did. Well intended moms did their best but they didn’t pass on the wild, the attack, the get after it with a whoop! No, they taught us to be nice, play by the rules, and, yep – be safe.
Soft hands
Though I grew up in the Oregon woods, when I became a man, I moved to the city. I became domesticated. In my 30’s I became a “preppy shit.” My language for fitting in with the prevailing style trends, pursuit of technology, picking low lying fruit in business – never the hard shovel work. I moved from creating and cultivating to moving stuff around, from carrying myself as a character driven by character, I moved to a poser, who lost touch with the land, the dirt. My hands got soft, my heart flabby.
Quick fixes
Rather than attack life, I avoided risk, going for what was important, and medicated in a variety of suck holes of time, relationships, and energy. Quick fixes always left me with either a physical, emotional, or spiritual hangover as I violated my personal code over and over. Choices I made were choices with virtually no risk. No real hard work involved. Hand work.
Drift
Along the way, over the years between 25 and 60 I drifted through life. Never clearly declaring with the intention of following through. If it wasn’t easy then I would medicate or lower the bar. The result was that I drifted.
Something happened that day on the trail with Jim.
My motto now is attack hills.
I go for it.
But the world system hasn’t changed. Attack hills is not rewarded by anything but race coordinators.
Attack has to do with character also. Attack with a pimp mindset is abuse, a bully, opposite of a noble warrior devoted to a cause greater than himself. Attack has to do with all the elements of a fully vested man. Attack deals with the King who rules well. A warrior willing to do what ever is need to achieve the prize for the king. A holy man reliant on a higher power. A lover who leads with his heart.
Go for it.
The people who told you to play it safe spoke from their fear.
You can do this.
Go for it. Find it.
Whatever is true, noble, worthy of praise, set your heart on these things.