keeping it random- there is no shinyhappy checklist (or life lessons from running)

Tomorrow is our big race. Which has me thinking about how much I love running, and more specifically why I love running.

I think there are two reasons I love it so much.

1. Running provides two things I could not otherwise afford right now- free therapy and a gym membership in one little outing.

2. Besides the physical and mental benefits, my other favorite thing about running is the life lessons I've learned (and continue to re-learn) as I put mile after mile on the tread of my Asics.

Most of the lessons I learn again and again (I'm a slow learner I guess). This is The Lesson that I relearn weekly-There Isn't A ShinyHappy Checklist.

Let me explain.

Running is the one of only things in my life where I can try the same thing and consistently, day by day, get different results. Same route, same gear, same weather, same breakfast. And still, you never know what you're going to get.

There are weeks, like this week, that start with a fantastic eleven miler. A run that ends with the thought, "I could keep going and still feel good."

Then, two short mornings later, an 'easy run,' the little three mile loop around the park near our house, feels like such work. Every step is effort. The entire run is a pep talk to my body, "You can do this! You can do this! One more step!" And, instead of rambling prayers or letting my mind scamper here and there until it slows down a bit, all I can do is pray for the run's end.

All I can think on those days is that I wish there were some ShinyHappy Run checklist.

But life is like that too. Unpredictable. Work. Same ingredients, different results. Breezing through a hard day but flattened by something little.

In short, much as I wish there were, there isn't a ShinyHappyLife checklist either.

And, to be honest, I love the reminder that a so.dang.hard "easy run" brings. I also love the offshoot- a lingering anticipation for something better. Because, in the last few years, I've never had a whole week of bad runs (well, minus the getting-in-running-shape seasons after I had each baby, which were brutal and in a different category entirely).

Always knowing that some morning in the near future will result in an endorphin induced euphoria, a feeling of being able to take on the whole big, chaotic world (or just my laundry pile, which sometimes seems as daunting) is such a gracious mercy from the Lord.

For a girl like me, who loves checklists and systems and tried and true ways to "get it right," my weekly runs are one big reminder that life just doesn't work that way. And that's ok.

As a total aside, hopefully the Rock 'n Roll half marathon tomorrow falls in the category of "could-keep-going" not "praying-for-the-finish" right? :) I'll keep y'all posted!

Do you have anything like running? A life lesson teacher? A constant in your week whose total is much greater than the sum of its parts?