Thank goodness for friends

I don't think I would have made it this far in my life without my friends, let alone be alive... but seriously, I'm lucky to have so many good, loving people by my side. Have you ever been so down that nothing you did or tried would cheer yourself up? Your parents would ask you what's wrong, your siblings may have made a half-hearted attempt to say something, your favorite song doesn't re-energize you.... so what do you do? You pick up your phone, of course. Or go onto Skype or Facebook. Chances are you'll have that one friend who knows exactly how to pick you back up. And sometimes they do it without even realizing it. Just their inherent characteristics or speech patterns or corny repetitive jokes are enough to make you smile again.

I'm lucky to live three houses away from one of my friends. And I don't know what it was about today, but I was dead tired. Feeling lazy. So down in the dumps it couldn't have been smellier (okay, that was a weird sentence but I'll let it slide). I called my friend up to go on a run because if you're like me, you have zero chance of being motivated to run on your own. I once tried that... I brought out a soccer ball to juggle, thinking I'd go on a run after 5 minutes of warm-up. I never made it out of my driveway. Anyways, I almost cancelled it this time. I was in bed, half asleep, feeling horrible, but I made myself get up because my friend was expecting me.

I literally was still trying to open my eyes when I walked up to his house. But then he came out of his garage, with his short red-brown hair longer and lying flatter than usual. I haven't seen him in 3 weeks but it was great seeing him. Oh how those gingers can cheer one up xD We went on our run and I wanted to turn back during the first hundred steps, but after that I started to feel better, forgetting my lack of fitness while we chatted.

I finished the run with so much more energy than I started. My legs were a bit sore, but I was wide awake. A good friend can do that to do. Just being with them makes you feel better and more alive. Now, if only I could call a friend over every time I didn't feel like doing my homework...

Smile First

I love it when people you're walking by on the street or standing in line with at the grocery store randomly come up and talk to you. People you don't even know, but they're just naturally nice and don't mind spending a few seconds of their time in conversation. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, and always makes me more cheerful afterwards.

I also like just the random hellos and waves you get from people if you're passing them on your bike or running past their lawn, times when you don't have time to stop and chat. A lot of the people around my neighborhood are out a lot, walking dogs, jogging, walking, sitting on their porch, so I've gotten numerous different greetings. A personal favorite of mine is the head nod, subtle but meaningful. Usually it comes from other runners that I pass, sometimes who are listening to their ipods, so it's a gesture well received.

What I don't like are the grouchy old people who flat out ignore you, or the teenagers around your age that you may or may not recognize, but pretend not to know you. Or just the people that pretend to tie their shoe or look in the opposite direction just as you pass. That just annoys me. But what I've found recently is that a lot of people, no matter how grouchy they look, actually open up a lot more if you smile first. What I do is I smile and make eye contact- if they react, then I wave and say something cheerful as I go by. It's a lot better than not smiling and then not getting anything in return, and has a much higher success rate than hoping the other person is friendly enough to say "hi" or "how's it going" first. So I don't know, contrary to what people might think, there are still a lot of friendly people left in this world, they just may not show it.

So take a chance and smile first. It's hard not to smile back at someone who smiles first, even if it's a complete stranger. I find myself doing that more and more on my runs, trying to be the first to initiate some kind of cheerful greeting. It's just one little thing to make your day a bit happier.

I'm a Little Scared of Cross Country Runners

Cross country runners can't possibly be human. Every time I see one running on the streets, I stop and gape, feeling miserable about myself and the world in general because I can't do what they do. I do a fair bit of running, but not nearly enough to even compare to the distances that some of these alien robots cover on a daily basis.

Alright, not every human was built to run like these monsters do. It's just not natural. Occasionally I see people who are cross training or running to prep for a different sport, like myself. I would say that's fairly admirable. The really hard core ones might even run as much as cross country runners do. But to take the act of running- edit: the act of running really really really LONG distances- into a sport... man, that's just intense. And it's not just the short shorts, intimidating as they might be, but the way these guys and girls commit to their sport. One of my good friends (yes, I am friends with one of these strange creatures) once said that running was almost like a religion to him, and that he runs to keep himself true- physically, emotionally, spiritually. His whole mentality was focused around the fact that he ran for himself, and as long as he was satisfied and happy with himself he wouldn't care at all what others thought of him.

And in his words, cross country is truly a developmental sport. It requires a person to be brutally honest with themself. Every day of training requires commitment. And that's one of the things I admire most about my friend is that he gives it his all, and isn't willing to sacrifice his training for anything.

I wish I could be more like them. In all aspects of my life, not just athletics. I feel that self discipline and hard work, two very important aspects of cross country running, are necessary for any avenue of life. I see a cross country runner in a race and I know they are mentally focused, fighting through the pain and constantly willing themself to perform better.

There's a reason people have associated training the body with training the mind. Cross country can be seen as the apotheosis for this, the embodiment of a sport that is truly comprised of just a person, his (or her, plenty of female cross country runners out there I wish I were friends with xD) willpower, and many many miles of road. I probably won't ever have the patience or the discipline to take on cross country, but for those who are, keep running. You show the rest of us how to live.