Happy Easter

Today's brekkie was great.   The lady sitting next to me was visiting Melbourne from Sydney and she is married to an American.  It was interesting to learn how the Australians view Americans.  You may be happy to know that it is in a very good way.  So, she was sitting to my right, and on my left was an older couple.  They were quiet at first, but naturally I struck up a conversation, and boy am I glad that I did!  What an amazing couple!  They are both in their late years, she is an Aussie and he is a Czech.  The two were celebrating their 50th anniversary! :)  I learned that he was a diplomat back in the day, and he rubbed elbows with the likes of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, the first George Bush, etc.  He didn't just rub elbows, rather dined with them and the like.  It took a lot for me to avoid asking a billion questions.  I could have done just that!  How intriguing...  Anyway, we chatted through the entire brekkie.  They were such a nice couple and they invited me over to celebrate Easter and their anniversary.  I declined in a very nice way.  It wouldn't be appropriate, at least not for me.  They invited me to brekkie tomorrow and I accepted. 

In the end, the race is with one's self

I headed out for a run after brekkie today and discovered an extraordinary park nearby.  It also happens to be the location of a memorial service tomorrow.  Yes, tomorrow is an Australian national holiday in honor of Australian soldiers killed during WW II.  I would guess that its similar to our memorial day holiday.  Back to the park...   The running track loops the park but I was able to get several glimpses of the park's interior and I was impressed!  My plan is to attend the memorial service tomorrow morning and explore the park in full.  I will certainly be taking videos and pictures.

My run was great too, but I kept beating myself up for falling out of shape and all that crap.  It wasn't long ago that I was running 7 miles daily five times per week.  Then I stopped, started again, stopped, started, stopped, and you get the idea.  Well now I am starting again, and I am starting at square one.  I will confess that square one is my least favorite square of them all.  Experience tells me that square one is always the first glimpse of what can be greatness if I let it blossom.  This time I am going to let it blossom and stick with it for a lifetime.  Running provides me the best feeling ever, yet I rob myself of the experience over and over.  Today I ended up doing four miles, but I kept judging myself against the young men and women who jogged past me in such great shape.  That's when I remembered the song "Everybody is Free to Wear Sunscreen" (clickable link if you want to hear it), which is a great song and spot on in every single way.  The song inspires me in so many ways and I admire the man who wrote the original speech that was later turned into this song.  A verse in the song goes, "The race is long, and in the end it is only with yourself".  So true, so true.  I might add that we are lucky if the race is long.  Many finish the race too early in life.  On that note, I bid you Happy Easter!