Keeping Pace

The Cross Country season has come to a close. The District Meet was held over the weekend. We screamed and cheered. She took 5th, which is immensely impressive.

The next day she was laying on the floor and I asked her, "Now that the season is over, what have you learned?" I had imagined that she would tell me that running for fun isn't really fun. Or, that doing any physical activity that produces sweat, isn't any fun either. But instead, she surprised me. She said, "I learned that I need to keep my pace."

Her words have stuck with me. In essence, isn't that what we are all trying to do? Keep our pace? Most of the time I feel like my pace is too fast, I can't seem to keep up. But, if I look at it from a running perspective, aren't I the one who sets my pace to begin with? I'm trying to live at a runners speed, when I'm really a walk-around-the-park kind of girl.

Maybe our pace changes at different seasons in our lives. But, I have to think that we tend to speed it up without really needing to. Things fall through the cracks when my pace is at a frantic level. Until now, I've never really absorbed the thought that I am the ultimate time keeper. I am the one who needs to keep a watchful eye on the course. Never letting the finish line goal blur out all the of the race that precedes it.

Thank you for teaching me, my Samantha. May you ever 'keep your pace' headed in the right direction.