Dodge Ball

Remember dodge ball? I don't mean the movie, I mean the game. We played it a lot when I was a kid, back when the earth's crust was cooling and school administrators weren't worried that the little Johnnys at recess might end up getting a boo-boo when a big red ball connected with their faces.

It was a fun game.

A lot of folks like to live life like it is a dodge ball game. We line up against the wall of time and spend our time trying to avoid the hurling red balls of suffering and adversity. The point of this game is to "stay alive" and do everything possible to keep from being hit.

While I'm no masochist eagerly seeking ways to hurt, when it comes to distance running and racing, pain is part of the process. A coach who many years kind of showed me the ropes of coaching once said it well. "The other sports tell their athletes to go out and 'play', while runners spend their time 'working' out. The point of cross country is to suffer."

Those words have kind of an ominous sound to them when you're trying to recruit 14 year olds who've associated running with punishment from a very early age. You can hear them thinking, "Oooh, that sounds like fun."

But the successful runners are those who find the joy that comes from suffering. Not joy IN the suffering, but the joy that comes FROM it.

Here are a few things that we get from that "good hurt" that comes from any hard effort.
1) strength and speed. There is no other way to develop these two main characteristics of great racers.
2) Mental toughness. When you're a mile from the finish line and everything seems to be on fire, your brain cries for mercy. You're a tougher individual when you can tell it to "shut up and keep going."
3) The ecstasy that comes from finishing is multiplied by the experience of pain.
4) Perspective. We begin to realize what we can handle ... and its usually more than we thought.

As we begin racing this season, make it a goal to not dodge the discomfort that will come over those three miles. Instead, embrace it, accept it and realize that the only way to the finish line is through a time of adversity and pain.

I promise you, when you come out successfully on the other side, you will NOT be disppointed.