My running adventures (and my blog posts) have been sporadic since July because, well, life got in the way. That is my way of saying I have had two relatively minor health issues to deal with. I don’t do inactive very well. If you want to make me very depressed, tell me I can’t run. To fill my time, I started working with two former classmates on a grade school class reunion. We have been trying to find people we haven’t seen in many years. When I find a missing classmate, we will start chatting about their school memories. They share stories about significant events during the school year, how a particular teacher made them feel or lessons they learned from them.
Hearing their comments has triggered my own memories of my teachers. One was particularly timely. I had learned Mr. V., a teacher who had been very influential in my life, had passed away last month. Mr. V. had more pearls of wisdom than anyone I have met. A particularly memorable one was the famous why one should never assume. At the time it was a bit off-color for high school kids but I can guarantee everyone who heard that pearl remembered it.
My running has been on hold for the last week while I deal with asthmatic bronchitis. Since I can’t run, I spend more time working on the reunion planning. One day another one of Mr. V’s pearls of wisdom popped into my head. “You have to get really sick every so often to appreciate what good health is.” I haven’t been sick in a very long time – broken bones, detached vitreous (story for another day) yes but no illnesses. I have been fortunate. Mr. V. was absolutely right though. I had taken the simple act of breathing for granted. This illness has reset my attitude. The simple act of breathing out and breathing in is one I will never take for granted again. Without that, there is no running and the Funatical Runner is just funatical.
Originally this blog was intended to focus on stories about my travels to marathons on the seven continents and endurance running with Transverse Myelitis. It has since morphed into stories about running an endurance race in each of the 50 States as well as the 6 World Marathon Majors and doing it while dealing with the effects of Transverse Myelitis. More and more though, I see this blog isn’t really about running adventures because running isn’t everything (although there are times when I think it is). It is more about life itself, the journey and how all the pieces come together. Running is just one of the things that happens along the way. Thanks, Mr. V, for helping remind me of that.
In case you have never seen it, this was the source of Mr. V’s pearl of wisdom about what happens when you assume. Credit to Jerry Belson, writer for the “Odd Couple” television series.
Adventures of a Funatical Runner 