The Serendipities

There are some things that you just naturally expect from your running: better health, a trimmer figure, and a sense of well-being and good fellowship. These things come as a matter of course. You knew that you were going to get them if you would just hold out. They are the results you expected. They may have figured prominently in your decision to begin running. They also motivate you to keep going. They are wonderful; but they were expected.

Then there are the serendipities. They are the unexpected. They represent "finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for". In this case, they are the special blessings of running which you never really dreamed would come your way. They are all the more thrilling because they were not anticipated. Perhaps you can even add to my list.

1. FINDING AGAIN THE SIMPLE JOY OF RUNNING. No doubt you had it as a child, for most of the games we enjoyed playing involved running. As we matured somehow we lost that thrill; but most of us at least secretly would like to go back. We would like to re-live some of the days of our youth. We would like to be the free, uninhibited beings we once were.

Running comes as near to giving us that as anything I know. Where else can you act silly and dress weird without even being noticed or counted odd, for others are doing much the same? So running lets us recapture our youth. Sometimes after struggling during the early part of a run, you almost enter euphoria, where you feel that you could do this forever. It may not last long; but in those moments you are caught up in the very motion of running. It is a special thrill that you may not have known for a long time. It is one of the serendipities.

2. CHERISHED FRIENDSHIPS. Oh, you expected good fellowship when you started running. You were probably motivated by your desire to be with people. You knew that you were going to enjoy running with others, so you are not surprised that you made new friends. The surprise is how fast those friendships are developed and how enduring they are. Sometimes within a matter of weeks you are closer to someone you run with than you are with people that you have known half your life...and those feelings of camaraderie go on and on. You remember those you have had good runs with long after they have moved away. You have special feelings for them every time you remember. This, too, is one of the serendipities.

3. AN APPRECIATION OF LIFE. Are you ever filled with overwhelming gratitude for the measure of health that you have? Many of those you see in the park have already waited too long. They have already suffered a stroke, a heart attack or high blood pressure. Now they are trying to gain back a small measure of what they have lost. If they had done what you are doing they might have avoided many hardships.

So when you come in hurting from bad running conditions...with your face so cold that your speech is slurred...with fingers so near frostbitten that you can hardly unlock the door of your car...Yet feeling good about yourself. Remember that you have found another of the serendipities. Even in the midst of pain you have not lost the joy of being alive; and especially of being able to participate is such a joyful sport.

4.THE EFFECT IT HAS ON THE OTHER PARTS OF YOUR LIFE. There was a time when you probably thought of running as being only a small part of your life that hardly affected anything else. Now you know that running is not just a form of exercise but a way of life. It is no longer something you do. It defines who you are; and it has changed your whole life. You didn't expect that, so this is where the serendipity comes in.

Runners like to finish anything they start. They are goal-orientated. They don't give up when the going gets tough. They are not inclined to make excuses even when they fail. They know about self-control and personal discipline. Usually they are people of unusual compassion for others. The result is that running has changed their whole life; and helps to determine how they perform every other kind of task. They have learned the unexpected truth that if you learn to run well, you are well on the road to knowing how to live well. This is the blessing.

Be thankful for the wonderful, delightful benefits you already expected from your running. Then be especially grateful for the serendipities!