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My sisters and I didn't know exactly why our parents spent their Saturday mornings driving around the neighborhood, strategically leaving water bottles along the way. We didn't know why they were gone most of the morning and then exhausted when they came in. I mean, we knew they were running...but from what, we didn't know. Were they running from failed marriages or from the challenges of a new one? Or were they simply running to get away from us? We didn't give it much more than a shrug of our shoulders at the time, but thirty years later, I tend to think they weren't running from anything, but rather running towards something.
Running is a simple sport that most healthy individuals can participate in. No matter what their level of activity is, they can do it. One foot in front of the other. But the power it has of transforming someone into a whole new way of being, is amazing. For my parents, some twenty years ago, it was definitely a way to create something different in their lives, as they tried to bridge two families together and create a "til death do us part" relationship. It was different for them, as they had basically not done much in the way of exercise at all, and since they were healthy and already thin, it really became taking each new step together...one mile at a time. Similar to how they created their life together, with family meetings, way ahead of their time and Sunday family activities, even against our will. But in the end, they became a united front, completing almost a dozen marathons and becoming the "Home Team" for all of us. I believe now, that running gave them much more than strength in their legs.
The Wall