As I said before, this week I’m traveling to Honolulu to do my first marathon. I say do because I’m not running the whole thing, nor am I racing. I’ll be doing a run/walk ratio of 4-to-1. I’m looking to at least crawl across the finish line in under six hours. Awesome. I gotta be honest… I’m SO OVER the sweaty-blistery-chaffing thing. I’m almost pissed that I agreed to do this but I made the commitment so I’ll do it. (I’m convinced that besides raising a ton of money for charity, the only saving grace about this race is carbo loading.)
That’s the funny thing about my commitments, though. First I’m excited about them and then after awhile, I get irritated that I HAVE to do something. And then I decide that I might as well be happy about them since I made the commitment and I’ve got to keep going or I’ll not have my integrity. And THEN I end up being really proud of all the hell I put myself through.
- “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”
- – Vincent T. Lombardi
I don’t think all commitments involve suffering, though. At least I hope not. Perhaps that’s why I’ve never taken the plunge and gotten married. Or one might argue that I hadn’t met the right person. Finding “The One” always seemed like such a daunting task but it seems lately there’s been a shift in people believing there are like six or seven soulmates out there for each of us. That’s a little more comforting like, “Hey, even if you screw up with that one, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll end up shriveled and alone…”
Now I’m realizing that I always thought of finding “The One” as kind of the finish line. And perhaps that’s exactly why I never really wanted to find him before. If you reach the finish line, then it’s over. The end. Goodbye. My life’s quest would be over and then… meh. And I know this sounds silly, but I didn’t consciously think this stuff. It just got in my head somehow at some point and it’s taken a while to uncover that belief.
Funny enough, I’m traveling to the Hawaiian Islands with my new love where “Aloha” means both goodbye AND hello. So perhaps finding “The One” can be both the end – and a new beginning. Because after all, it ain’t over ’till it’s over and there’s always a new finish line to discover… although I’m pretty sure this will be my last marathon.
I’ll post some pictures when I get back 🙂
~Zen
