Missing

As I look back over my blog entries in this blog since the start of Lent, I find that I am one short or there is one missing.  It was the day after the marathon.  I don't recall why there is one missing from that day, but I figure today is an excellent day to make up for that.  And, I might as well ponder things that are missing.

Certainly there is not a lot missing in my life.  Beautiful wife.  Three wonderful sons.  Success in my career.  Success and enjoyment in my hobbies--including running, playing music at church, and cooking.

And, yet, in almost all of those I can still find something missing.  A missing piece that would make things even better.  A better understanding of my kids, their interests, and what they need?  Is it more time?  More advice?  More undivided attention when I give them my attention?

For my running, I think that the missing piece all wintere long was a focus on something other than my own running as I ran long slow distances.  The distances go much more easily when they are run with someone. I bet they would also go more easily if I focused on something other than the running.  Although not to the complete exclusion of concern about my body.

Playing music--there is plenty missing that could make it better, although I think I have been improving.

There is always room to improve my cooking.

There is always room to improve at work.

And, even after 20 years, I think that Sherry and I in some ways are only beginning to truly undersand each other.  Particularly, how what makes us tick is likely to change over the next 20 years.

So, in everything in life, I can seek what is missing, and work to improve my life by addressing those issues head on.

Do what you love

The other day, I was reminded by the half marathon training group coach that the Boston Marathon was adjusting the qualifying times.  Instead of needing to run a 3:20:59 this fall in the Baltimore marathon (already quite a challenge on the hilly Baltimore course), I would need to run a 3:15:59.  Now, since I don't know exactly what my reasonable maximum is on the marathon (I've only run one and I was dealing with a slight injury), I may be able to ponder this, but the extra five minutes compared with what I had been planning for since October seems like a big deal.

After pondering if for a bit, I have realized that there is another life lessons/running lesson link.  When I was working toward my promotion to full professor, I received a lot of advice about how to shift what I was doing to accelerate and make more certain the promotion process.  While I respected all those who provided such advice, I eventually decided just to continue doing what I was doing.  I figured for all the stresses that my job creates, I might as well enjoy what I am doing.  If I was good at what I did and I did not get promoted, I would then look for another position doing what I enjoyed.  The key was to make sure I loved what I was doing and to hope that everything else would take care of itself.  I felt a lot less pressure, and it did take care of itself.

So how does this relate to running?  Well, with the thought that I don't have a good chance of qualifying for Boston this year, I am feeling less pressure.  Now, I can just focus on running because I love running and I love writing about it.  Maybe I will qualify.  If I do, I'll be quite happy.  It'll be another example of things taking care of themselves when I don't put the pressure on.  If I ever decide that I don't love the gifts of running and writing so much, I'll hang up the running shoes.

Until then, I'll just remind myself that I do it because I love it!