Thursday, July 9, 2015

the route

I used to run with my best friend. Every day. And if you know anything about running, a good running partner is hard to find. And we had this route- 'our route'-we liked to call it. We may have been just a little possessive. But it was just an understood thing between the two of us as we set off from our conveniently next door neighbor apartments, that that was the direction we would head.

And since her husband and she moved about 7 months ago, I haven't ran that exact same route yet. Not because I couldn't endure it, but because it would just feel different without her. See, we ran the same. We ran for the sake of spending 40ish minutes laughing, worshiping, praying, dying in the heat-really you name it we experienced it-together. Because that was all that it was about for us. The thing that the two of us shared that no one else could really touch for that short time. So we always started and ended together, never loosing our step by step stride as we pressed on in that route. A running partner by classification, but a sister in Christ and best friend even more.

I haven't ran that exact route without her yet. But I think I could now. Not because it will be easy to go without her, but because I get to tell her about it all in the end. The turns, the dreadful hill,  the waiting for the stop lights, the exhilarating feeling of completion. And she will get to tell me of her new route to run. And even though miles and elevation separate the two, they have all of those same parts whether here or there.

Life just may be a lot like that route. Choose your running partner wisely.

P.S. the waiting at stop lights was always the worst, but we kept running. We always kept running...