Saturday, September 24, 2011

1st Annual Kade Meyer Celebration 5K/10K

Here's something you haven't seen from me in awhile...a 5K race report. These days I use them as time trials to assess my fitness or lack thereof! You see where you are, then plug your numbers in to determine training paces a la http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm. All in all, considering I have been goofing off the last 6 weeks and not doing any speed work...I'm really happy with how I felt this morning. I averaged about 8:08 per mile.

Most importantly, I would highly recommend this 5K or 10K. It was held at Celebration Park in Gardner and is a fantastic course. The race celebrates the memory of Kade Meyer ~ in September 2010, this wonderful little boy that I never met was killed by a car outside of his Elementary school in Gardner. There was a strong show of support for Kade by the participants, and it was great that they were out there on this beautiful morning doing something healthy and getting their bodies moving.

This story illustrates the grace and strength of his family, friends, and others that carry on without him. It's not just about carrying on, it is also *how* you carry on. It's also about having the support of family and friends (and they are grieving too). There are choices in life, and so often you see people that do not or cannot cope with difficulty and the toll that can take. It can be debilitating or self-injuring (there are examples of this all the time on shows like Hoarders or Biggest Loser). Of course there are natural stages of emotion that people go through after a loss and feelings that continue on, but there is also a choice to make: are you going to curl up in a ball and hide and not live, or do you fight to regain some new and healthy sense of normalcy and live the best that you can?

When there is nothing you can do to change the circumstances that life hands you, you have to reach down deep and be strong. How do you acquire the life skills to be strong? It's always easier said than done. And you wish that people didn't have to have their character tested like that. But it happens. I am thankful for people that dig deep, find the grace to be as strong as they can and live the best that they can under the circumstances. As someone standing on the outside looking in, I can say a prayer for them and let them know that they are not alone, and that they are setting an example of grace that others can learn from.

You can read more about the story at http://www.kademeyer.com/.