Learning from our youngers

For the past 3 days I have been religiously foam rolling, hoping to rid myself of the bursitis I have been dealing with since Collegiate Cycling Nationals. Not surprisingly for the most part I have attempted to train through this injury. Shockingly it hasn't gone away...duh. The good news is that this morning I successfully completed a 45 minute run around the reservoir west of our house at the base of the mountains. It is possible that between taking some time off and foam rolling my adductors I am making progress!

Although good news, the above paragraph is certainly not blog worthy. Much more notable then any successful run however was the family I ran by fishing in the reservoir. Nearly 2/3 of the way around the lake I watched from a distance as a father passed his young son a bluegill he had just reeled in. After removing the hook from the fishes mouth, the father passed the son the fish. The look on the young child's face was priceless. As the young boy stood there, bluegill in hand, his mouth opened into one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen. The fish flipped out of the boys hand who proceeded to chase it around in the mud, attempting to grab hold of his prize. I smiled and laughed a bit at the father and greeted them with a quick wave of my hand as I ran by. He smiled and laughed back.

On the way back I tried in vain to remember the first time I went fishing. Finally my mind set on a trip to Burke Lake park with my father and my grandpa John one Summer weekend day. Although my memory of the trip is quite vague, small bits of the excursion certainly remain in my memory. One of them is the taste of victory felt while hoisting that first bluegill from the depths of the water. I realized that this must be how that little boy felt on the reservoir today. Pride effervescing from him, sweet victory.

All of this may kind of seem like a tanget...and maybe it is, but I believe that I could learn a lesson or two from this young boy. First of all is that we must take pride in our victories, regardless of the size. Countless numbers of bluegill are caught a day, yet, to this child, this fact was completely irrelevant. What mattered to him was that he had succeeded in his fishing quest. Being thankful for what we have and what we can do is something that I could use some work on.

It is easy to get caught up on things we can't do or don't have. Unfortunately, doing so will not make us very happy. Instead we should try to take a page from this young child's book of happiness. He may not have won Kona or crossed the line at Boston, but the pure and unbridled joy of this child is something to strive for. Thank you for the lesson and hopefully I can take it to heart.