The “Go, Get Out of Here” Tour

So the race is this weekend.  And when I’ve finished the marathon, I will finish this blog.

It all started when I was running the other day.  In Lock Haven we have an elevated path along the Susquehana river called “The Dyke” that I run on at night.  It’s better than running along the road because I know I won’t be hit by a car.  The path is two miles and a quarter long, and if I run from my apartment, do the whole thing, and then come back, it’s six miles.

But you know, in training for a marathon, six miles isn’t long enough.  By the time I get to the very end of it, there are no more street lights.  From the ones behind me, I can see that at the bottom of the path there is a parking lot, with a bunch of trees behind it.  I always thought maybe the path picks up again on the other side of the parking lot or the trees, but because there are no visible lights from where I stood, I usually just do a mile, turn around and do it again, do two miles, turn around and do them again… until I’ve gotten how far I want to go.

One day, I was running the whole thing strait through, and it was around 11 pm that I got to the end of it.  I decided, with the marathon a few weeks away, that I was going to venture out beyond the trees and see if the path and the lights pick up again.

So I walked down the path and through the parking lot, and I hit a curb so I turned and went the other way.  I didn’t realise how long the parking lot was.

And then, as I was concentrating on the ground so I wouldn’t trip over anything in the dim light, I started to see the ground light up.  Lights! The path was starting again!  But the ground wasn’t just black, it had a yellow line running through it.  And the light wasn’t coming from a street lamp, it was coming from an oncoming car.  RUN!!

Of coarse I made it out of the way, I only had to move about six feet and I had at least seven seconds to do it.  Shaken up, and realising where I was, I got back on the path and started to run again in the other direction.

Then when I was at about mile four, I saw a stoopid dog.  Not just a dog, but a loose dog, with no owner in sight and no leash attached to it’s collar.  It quickly ran up the hill- which is probably steeper than a 45 degree angle, and started to chase me.

It was only a few seconds-no more, I swear- that I tried to run from it.  Immediately I knew that it was a bad idea, and I guess I really only did it to buy myself some time.  But I looked back, and the thing looked like it wanted to kill me.  Like it was really going to bite me.  I’ll admit I’m no expert at interpreting the expressions of dogs, but I wasn’t about to risk it.

At first I just stopped and looked back- the dog stopped too.  Then I started running again, and it started running after me again.

You know, I’m a Christian, so I’ll submit to God’s will.  But there are a few things I will not submit to- unfair rules or regulations, suppression of creativity or harmless self-expression, and most of all, a stoopid animal.  I would never abuse an animal, really, and I would never agree with that kind of behavior- ever.  Seriously, I’m not ok with animals being treated poorly in experimental or factory type situations.  But I would kill a dog before I let it bite me.

But it was too big for me to punt.  So I stopped, turned around, and started fake-out running at it.  I yelled, “Go! Get out of here!!”  It ran back down the hill, and I finished my run.

That’s a lot farther then I would have gotten just a few years ago.  In fact I remember one time when I was walking home from school in Junior High, and neighbors dog got loose, and I was so scared that I stopped dead in my tracks.  I probably stood there for five minutes before the small dog wandered away.

At that point I was afraid of dogs.  I’m not really anymore.  I see them walking with their owners on a leash on the dyke all the time, and I just run right by.  But a dog on a leash is totally different then a dog wandering around on its own, and ten times worse is a dog that’s chasing after me.  I can’t say what I would have done a few years ago (besides from the fact that I would never be running a few years ago), but honestly, I would probably just stand there while the dog bit me.  No for real.  But i’m glad that now I’m to the point where I can scare a dog more than it can scare me.

Anyways, the whole thing got me thinking about Baz Luhrman, and the sunscreen song.  In it, Baz says the words, “Do one thing, everyday, that scares you.”  What great advice.

You know, there’s a lot of things I want to do in my life.  I mean a lot.  And I’m tired of feeling like that dog.  Like when I’m interested or curious about something and start to persue it (and I know that’s all the dog was doing), I’m stopped by something.  It could be that I don’t have enough money, that my parents won’t let me, that it’s too dangerous and I might be killed (which is why my parents won’t let me), it could be because it will only be fun if I do it with a group, and all my friends flake on me, it could be because I can’t get out of work or class or whatever other responsibility- or anything.  But the point is, somewhere along the line I start to understand the words “go, get out of here,” and I run back down the hill.

And that’s what’s going to start changing.  I’ll be the one screaming “get out of here” from now on, at whatever is standing in my way.  I’m starting to see that I have to be more assertive, that I have to work harder for the things I want and the things I want to accomplish, and let fewer things stand in my way.

But this blog isn’t the place to write about it.  This is the place where I came to that conclusion, and another blog- a professional looking one with my own domain name- will be the place where I explore it.  So the next few days will be like my farewell tour.  I have quite a few more topics I want to write about, and then i’ll leave coverage of the marathon for my new blog.  I think starting it with a big accomplishment is the only way to start it, and I can’t bank on another oppurtunity like this.

When I got back to my apartment, my roommate and her friends were up to some shananigans, and she asked me, “Did you have a good run?” I said yeah, but I got chased by a dog.

“You should have punted it.”  Now we’re talkin.

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