Measure carefully

     In our garage, we have a 2x4 that supports some shelving that is always packed with too much garage stuff. Should we ever move, I'll have to replace it, even though it's irreplaceable. Huh? Over the years we have been marking this big 'ol yardstick with height checks of our kids, some neighbor kids, a couple friends and a relative or two. It currently holds stuff up, but it holds many more memories.
     Measuring is done all day long in our lives. Costing of things, him versus her, this show over that show, music comparisons, movie comparisons and on and on. I'm thinking that very soon America will get fed up with all the complaining and helicopter radio and tv hosts that hover over any trend, news item or person, just waiting for the right fail-ment to pounce upon them and keep their listeners or viewers up to date on the latest tidbit of info. It's a pretty lousy diet of airwave ( oh wait, cablewave ) overload. It's a big Newsami drowning us ever so slowly with brain polluting yak, yak, yak.
     So go for a run! Drop the haters from your radio and tv buttons and enjoy the good stuff. Track your progress, measure your success and don't worry if Lindsay, or Newt or Kim or Charlie or ? has had a bad day. I bet if they could, they'd love to be in the shape most runners are, mentally, emotionally, and physically.  We have so much to be thankful as we run, let's just pray for those that tread on others that one day they will wake up and call in well for work and move in another direction.
     Not that runners are perfect, no one is, but I believe the essence of running transcends so much in life, yet melds so much together. Our bodies are made up of parts that run impulses throughout our system, like one giant relay race every second we are alive. The better we treat our bodies, minds and spirits the more efficient we become, the better we function, the easier it is to run...be positive, forgive and forget. Move on, move forward.
     Benchmarks are great tools. I love to measure up, as we did last Sunday in our first long run test, to see how our marathon training is preparing us for race day. We scored higher than we had planned, and everyone had a good day. Fun stuff. Positive stuff. No worries about the faster runners that passed us, no remarks about the slower runners plodding along. Everyone has their own race to run, their own daily, sometimes hourly, goals to strive for and they deserve the common courtesy to reach for them all on their own.
     Turn off the media and turn up your life!