running solo and running buddy

Last week, my father and I resumed our weekly running time together. For him, this is preparation for football season in the fall. For me, it is a welcome change to the solo running I do four times a week. This year, however, there is also another purpose to running for me. I am training myself to participate in the "Drewitz Triathlon" - a combination of running, bicycling, and rollerblading from my house in Waterloo to Riverside Park in Cambridge, an estimated distance of 25 kilometers. Apart from time spent with my father, exercise, and fun, the Drewitz Triathlon is a means for me to raise funds for my service with the Mennonite Central Committee beginning August 11 in Uganda for one year.

Running solo enables me to engage my mind and body in ways otherwise not attainable. Sorting through challenges, life situations, and small tasks is best accomplished for me while I run. One complete hour of solitude in nature, or worse in suburbia where the cars are coughing their morning gasoline drug, also allows me to draw closer to God. Through running I am reminded of my purpose on earth, God's blessings over my life, and challenges God has helped me to withstand. Notwithstanding, however, running solo dissuades necessary new adventurous challenges brought forth only with the smile and running shoes of another person.

Running with a buddy offers a unique perspective. Destroying previous physical limitations, I am able to defeat what I thought I could not attain. Cramped walking and shortness of breath become more enjoyable with someone else. Realizing each other's strengths and weaknesses offer "friendly" competition. Talking in changing paces creates an environment in which discussion of trivial to the basic can occur. At the very least, and sometimes more importantly, a running buddy provides the needed comfort of companionship.