be kind, try hard, repeat

a recurring theme in my life is that a love/hate running, or shuffling and crying as i appear to be doing lately. i've discussed this all before. recently, i left for a run one ridiculously hot and humid saturday morning while i was mentally preparing my sharing time lesson for primary on sunday. i had no specific assignment and i was trying to use my run as meditation time to pull some things together. my new neighborhood is full of the toughest runs i have ever had. my 7 mile run here is the elevation equivalent of my 12 mile run in south carolina. so, in short, absolutely killer. i rethink my running capabilities every time i'm out. on this particular day i was only a mile or 2 in and i was hating myself and everything around me and gauging my personal worth on my speed or lack thereof. i had already been passed by the entire local high school reigning state champion cross country team and that was pretty much the point i decided i was going to quit and walk home. i make this threat to myself often, but it 's dangerous because i always think i may actually do it. at the crest of the next hill as i was going up, a group of neighborhood runners was coming down. one guy who i had never seen before in my life looked me right in the eye and smiled and said, "good job." and that was it. that was the difference in me quitting and me continuing for another 6 miles. someone who i didn't know, taking the time to say nice things to me made me feel like i could try harder. so, there was my lesson for primary. what difference can we make in the lives of others when me make an effort to try hard and be kind, even if we don't know them? it's a circle. oftentimes, we are petrified to try hard or be kind but they go together, hand in hand. that small gesture of kindness changed the course of my morning. the kids in my primary would be starting the new school year the next week and i felt that we needed to encourage kids to look out for those who need friends and to be kind. 

a running aside, i am the queen of chub rub. it's a royal title that is also a burden. finding shorts that allow me to run fluidly in heat is a long struggle that is short on results. punny. i found these mid-thigh compression shorts on oldnavy.com marked down to $13 so i bought a couple pairs. they are fantastic and they hold EVERYTHING in so that the only things keeping cadence are my feet and not my stomach rolls. the full, MOMification is complete. hip to the square stylish mom shorts and boudreax's butt paste on my arm pits and i absolutely glide like a gazelle. a very slow, wobbly gazelle. now, i am the queen of mom shorts. it's a lateral title change that i'll accept.

the end