I’ve been training all summer for the Chicago Half Marathon and as part of my training, I have been following an online training program. So one morning about 3 weeks ago, I set out to run my day’s run: a one-hour low impact run. I live in the NW suburbs of Chicago and we were in the middle of a heat advisory. The humidity was almost as high as the air temperature.
At first it was ok, I felt a little warm but nothing too bad. Soon though, I was sweating from every pore of my skin and as I progressed, I realized I wasn’t running so much as I was chasing shade. I ran from one street to another looking for the best shade and completely abandoned my initial planned route. The voices in my head were complaining about the heat, the Midwest, and every other discomfort I was feeling.
At some point, I’m not sure how long, I realized what was going on and I started laughing. What I found interesting about it was that when I was able to get off the fact that I was not running my best run, and look deeper for the benefits of running the run I was on, I realized how important it was to run this run and how similar to life running really is.
In a sense, we’re all chasing shade. We all look for relief from suffering-in whatever form it might take, and we seek out the paths that seem the least challenging or offer the most “shade.” The challenge is to put ourselves on the paths that don’t necessarily seem easy in order to grow in whatever way we’re looking to grow. It’s the challenge that stretches and grows us. We stop growing when we stop stepping outside of our comfort zones.
It reminds me of the importance to keep trying new things and when something is important, sticking with it until it’s how you want it to be. It’s the same with running.
So while I know my run was not my best run- and I certainly hope not indicative of how I run in the Half-Marathon- I still learned some things about myself and I ran for the full hour. I didn’t quit or give up.
So the question I put out to the world is where do you chase shade in your life? What important things or conversations are you putting off because it seems too hard or too scary? Where are you “Chasing Shade?”