The Longest Run

Back in middle school and high school, I was a runner. Actually, more of a sprinter. I was on the track team for a few years and even participated on the cross-country team for one season. During those experiences, we often ran several miles at a time for conditioning. One technique our coach used was to drive out into the country, drop us off, point us in the right direction, and suggest we pick up the pace if we wanted to get home in time for dinner. I usually made it back okay, but there were multiple moments when I had a substantial dialogue going on in my head. “What in the world have I gotten myself into?”, “What possessed me to put myself through this kind of torture”, “I’m never going to get back and I am going to starve to death”, and “I should have joined the golf team.”

However, once I found my stride and got into a smooth routine, I began to enjoy the road home. When I finally made it back, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. Despite the difficulty and the moments of doubt, I was able to stay the course and complete the run. Some of my other teammates, come to find out, hitched rides back. I don’t fault them, really, but it did feel unfair at the time.

In a strange way, our time of quarantine feels like a substantial race. Actually, it feels like an ultramarathon. None of us would have wanted to be dropped off so far away from our normal life. However, over the past few months, we have had to find our rhythm and pace as we run the course set out before us. Unfortunately, we don’t have many mile markers in front of us, so we don’t really know how much farther we must go. Many of us are having those inner dialogues of uncertainty and frustration (some are external as well). We may be doubting if this road is ever going to end.

Recently, I have been thinking about those who lived through WWII. I wonder what it was like to not know when the war was going to end. What did they do to get through the days? The war impacted different places very differently, some tragically, others peripherally. However, everyone was affected in some way, directly or indirectly. Then on Sept 2, 1945, after six years, the war did end. Following that time, people returned to normal life patterns or established new ones. The generation that endured WWII laid the foundation for much of how we lived up until just a few months ago.

So, here we are in May 2020, on a run that has no end in sight from where we are now. This course is hard. It is trying us in ways we have never experienced before. For some it has been devastating, for others merely inconvenient. And we don’t know when that may shift at any moment. So, now is the time for us to do a gut check. Are we committed to seeing this through to the end? Can we find renewed focus and continue to run the race that is set before us? Can we encourage each other to stay the course for the benefit of all? History tells us that no matter what we face, it will come to an end in time. Our grandparents and their grandparents and theirs as well are proof that life moves on. We can not only survive but we can rise up out of these difficult times better from them.

So, we have a choice. Either we work on keeping our stride as we work our way to the finish line, or we can try to find shortcuts that may be detrimental to ourselves and others. Don’t lose hope, we will finish this race at some point. Maybe we can take some encouragement from Anna in Frozen II.

Take a step, step again
It is all that I can to do
The next right thing

I won't look too far ahead
It's too much for me to take
But break it down to this next breath
This next step
This next choice is one that I can make…

And do the next right thing!