Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall

This is a pic of my 88-year old Mom. If you lined up all the 80 year olds in the city for a mile race, she would probably lap the field.

So far, it seems that I have been focusing on advanced runners and workouts, but, I really want to get everybody on the bandwagon. Don't read my postings and get discouraged, thinking, "I could never do that?" The fact is, I didn't get back into running until 5-years ago. I was a pretty good runner in my younger days, but, those 20-year layoffs are killers. Every spring,I'd try out for the Corporate Challenge, and just absolutely embarrass myself. So, in the summer of 2000 I made it a point to training for the next year's Challenge.

Every day I would run the same course along the river and touch the gate exactly 2-miles away. It was like a ritual. The 4-mile loop would take me a whole 40-minutes to complete. Granted, it was 110 degree heat index. The first couple of weeks, I'd be so tired I'd nearly fall asleep at my desk, but, I stuck with it, and a year latter I finished my first marathon, just missing qualifying for Boston by 2-minutes.

Do you need to start running? Before you answer, stand in front of a full length mirror, nude. I'll do the same. Front doesn't look too bad. The back? Now that looks damn, good! The side. Uh oh, there's the problem.

Now lace them up and hit the road! And then do it again tomorrow. And the next, and the next, and the........

Now, back to mom. This morning when she was cooking my breakfast (No, I don't live with my mom. I live next door), there was a thing on the news about smoking, and she said that, 50-years ago, my dad walked in and stated that he had quit smoking. Well, my mom said that if he could do, she could too, and took her cigarettes out of her purse and threw them in the trash, and never smoked another one.

If she hadn't made that decision, at that moment, I don't think she's be her today. Then who'd do my laundry? We all reach a point in time, where we make a choice, and it affects the rest of our life. An epiphany.

You're still standing in front of the mirror. Now, don't look at you, but, within you. Is there a decision you want to make?