In 361 days, hard to believe, I will turn 50. Incredible.
I don't feel 49. I don't know what that's supposed to feel like. Maybe my mental age is a lot less. Wait, I'm probably sure of that. :-)
I don't know that I've ever considered myself to be a follower, but I do know that I many times do my best in a behind-the-scenes support role. I thrive on it. Does it mean that I avoid the risk of always leading? Maybe. Maybe not.
Even though I've told Waverly never to have regrets, I think this year is going to be about not looking back. And that's not to say that I have been.
Or maybe it is that I shouldn't second guess myself or do things that maybe I really just don't want to do anymore.
Case in point today here in Pearl, Mississippi. I was signed up to run the Mississippi Blues Half Marathon in Jackson - a race that I've done both the half in 2009 and the marathon in 2012.
I've been sick the last week battling off a stomach virus. It is in the 50's here and when the alarm went off at 4:45 a.m. (for a 7 a.m. start), it was raining pretty well.
At about 5:15 a.m., I told Waverly to go back to sleep in her bed and I tried to do the same in mine. I would miss seeing my friends in Steve Boone and Angela Tortorice, but I know where to find them!
When I finally got moving at 7:45 a.m. and peeled back the blinds in the hotel room, guess what: no rain and it looks like a pretty nice morning to run.
I don't know that I would call it burnout, but a good bit of my "want to" has went. And that's OK.
So, I've also made a decision to not run next Sunday's Chevron Houston Marathon, which would have been my 10th. Crazy, you say? There's one line of thought (getting to "Veteran Status") where you could say that.
However, I will be writing the article for Texas Runner and Triathlete on the race and I'm excited about that. It will be the first time since 2003 that I've made a decision not to "run Houston" (the original notion of "Run Houston", not the current market rendering) and I'm great with it.
I'm going to concentrate in 2016 about working hard on my announcing, slowing down a little (to me although you may think otherwise) and trying to enjoy life even more than I already have been.
This will be heresy to some, but I learned this two years ago when I had to speak at my sister's Memorial Service: Nobody will come and remember you based on how many things you did, they will be there because of who you were and the things that you stood for.
Waverly and I will be driving tonight to Gastonia, North Carolina and then she'll be taking me to the Charlotte airport on Sunday where I'll fly home and she'll drive on north to start the spring semester of her junior year of college at Liberty University.
So proud of her, the beautiful young woman inside and out that she has become, what she stands for and the opportunity that she has to serve God with the talents and the abilities that He has given her to have an effect on the lives of young women that resides on her hall and the boys and girls that she'll teach in the classroom in years to come.
If you're reading, please pray for safe travels for us both today and tomorrow.
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