The Sunny Side of the Street

After last week's blog post about 2016 being a big old bummer, I am trying to cross over to the "sunny side" and look forward to the new year with a brighter attitude.  With new students coming to my room next week, I'm ready to meet them with hope and enthusiasm, knowing that they will keep me energized and motivated.

I am also starting a new running season, pacing a new group of runners, many of whom have never run a half marathon but hope to achieve that goal by the end of April.  I try to avoid talking/writing about running because people who aren't runners can get bored VERY quickly with running stories. (Fair enough - there is only so much to say about watches and paces and socks.)  But running for me always parallels other areas of my life.  Sometimes all I need to power through an extra mile is the same thing I need to tackle a set of essays - focus.  And when I feel discouraged or uncertain, it's my fellow runners who inspire me, just as my fellow teachers at school so often keep me afloat.  So with that in mind, I have a short running story that reminds me we are never done learning and improving.

Last season, our running group shrank over the weeks.  Injuries, work obligations, bad weather - so many things get in the way of showing up to run on Saturday morning. My fellow pace leader and I showed up, and some Saturdays we would wonder if we'd be the only ones there (in which case we probably would have headed to Starbucks).  But Henry was always there.  This is Henry (on the left):

Henry is 70-something.  And he runs with us EVERY Saturday.  When it was 40 degrees and raining, Henry was there.  When it was 80 and humid, Henry was there.  Henry never complained about aches and pains, never cut short his miles, never skipped a run. Henry was determined to run his best half marathon time ever even though his best time had occurred in his 40s, when he had first started running.  Henry made every mile seem shorter and more enjoyable with his determination and positive spirit. No surprise, then, that he shattered his earlier record by almost 3 minutes.  Sadly, Henry won't be running in my group this spring.  He moved up to a faster group.  He's ready for a new record.

I'm ready for a new group of kids.  I am ready to show up and get it done, to break through obstacles that hold us back, to pursue new levels of achievement, and to celebrate every fun and unpredictable moment along the way.