Thursday, June 23, 2011

Roles

This morning I joined a friend with her personal trainer (which I am going to try my own sessions tomorrow). Seven o'clock came early.

She is currently training for a 5K and pushing herself to become stronger in her physical health. I wanted to come along to see what her trainer was like and to join in a workout.

As we ran around our small town, I remembered back to the days when my friends would run with me to keep me going. When they would encourage me to keep me going. When they would remind me of how far we had come to keep me going.

We were finishing up the run with a run up the stairs of a great hill and then they were going to run the rest of the way to her home. I wanted to sprint the stairs! Running up the stairs, I made a split decision...do them again! My friends would always get sent ahead of me to run a sprint and then double back to pick me up. However, I have been known before to send a friend back up a hill we had just run down and then they had to catch me (remember that?) or to run an extra half mile back and then catch me (K and M, you should both be loving that one).
Running up the stairs a second time brought me to the realization that the roles had switched. I was that person that was coming along to catch my friend running.

I may not be exactly where I want to be right now with my endurance of running, but I have grown. I have made progress. I am beginning to pay it forward. And I can't wait for the day that my friend pays it forward for others!

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