Slow and Steady Wins the Race?

(July 2012)

While I am jogging I always tell myself "slow and steady wins the race", it helps me keep my pace and not get in a hurry. It always seemed like a good philosophy but I haven't really put it to the test. Until......

A few months ago Lauri and decided that our lives weren't difficult enough so we needed to run a 5k (I know CRAZY right). At the time it seemed like an insurmountable undertaking, all I did was go to work and hang out with Mike which basically entails laying beside him in bed. Once the goal was set, it took a couple of months of contemplation before I did anything because I didn't know how I was going to add jogging to my life. I finally decided I needed to just make the time and do it.  If I packed exercise cloths in the morning and took them with me to work I would have them when I visited Mike and I could take some time out to jog.  I got on a jogging schedule and realized just how out of shape I was.  I kept telling myself "slow and steady wins the race".  It was hard but I was determined and Michael always seemed proud of me when I returned.

Finally the day arrived and I was as prepared as I could be (well besides the waisted "contemplation months").  I made sure I had a super cute outfit to run in, I knew I wasn't going to go very fast but at least I could look good.  My sister Katie joined us for the fun, we lined up, and we were off.  I picked my slow and steady pace and started jogging.  My pace was too slow for Lauri so she went on her way while Katie and I hung back waiting for everyone else to start dropping out of the race due to there not slow and steady pace.  I kept my pace the whole time, it got very hard but I didn't give up or start walking I just kept going.  As the finish line came into view I realized that although I ran slow and steady, I didn't win, in fact there were very few people who came in after me.  I came in last for my age categories and to be honest most people could walk at the same pace I ran.  The cool thing was that as we were passed up by the half marathoners who had been running much further than us they did not laugh they would cheer us on.

I have often wondered about those who come in last or near last in a 5k.  Were they embarrassed? Did they even train for the race? Why were they even bothering to do the race at all.  Now that I was one of "them" I realized not only how you feel, but what "slow and steady wins the race" really means.   Despite what others may have thought I did train for the race. I was not embarrassed about my time or how I did in the race at all.  I knew I had done my best and given my circumstances this was not an easy undertaking.  I had given all I could at this time and this was the fruits of it. "Slow and steady wins the race" is really more about life than an actual race.  Sometimes in life we have more to give than others, this is due to our circumstances, our "slow" pace at one time in our lives can seem like a sprint at other times.  We can only do what we can do and we should not do more or less than that.  If we do this we can make it to the end and in the race of life we are only compared to ourselves.  We should not look at what others "pace" and feel bad that our pace is slower (unless we are just being lazy) or feel superior to others because our "pace" is faster.  We are all at different places in are lives and we should just cheer each other on.