Everything Compounds

Progress has to start somewhere

Last week, something clicked.

I hadn’t been feeling strong or energetic when I went for a run; for most of the summer, I’ve felt pretty sluggish whenever I lace up my shoes. No surprise, I’ve been a lot less consistent than I’d like to be.

But last week, I went for four runs in a row — the first time I’ve done that in a long, long time. And each felt progressively better than the one before. By the fourth run, I could feel my body loosen up as I got into the run, feel stronger and more energetic.

It was a little like that scene in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and the Scarecrow come upon the Tin Man in a forest; he’s been standing there, ramrod straight and rusting for who knows how long. All he needs is a little oil to loosen up his joints, and off to the races he goes.

This is how it feels to come out of the doldrums, I think. Maybe it’s because the law of inertia doesn’t apply only to objects — it applies to us too, you know? When we’ve been at rest for too long, getting moving again can feel impossible. Our bodies, our joints, quite literally feel rusty.

My son, who’s eleven going on thirty-five (!), is running cross country with his school for the first time ever this year. He’s never done it before; in fact, he’s really only run very short distances before this. I’m not sure he’d ever run a mile from start to finish before.

And, to be sure, his first day was tough. Temperatures were in the mid-80s, and thanks to where we live here in Georgia, it was humid too. He and the rest of his team ran between two and three miles that day, in addition to lots of other exercises.

But he got through it. He didn’t ask his mom or me if he could quit. (A fact I’m honestly stunned about!) And ever since, he’s stuck with it.

Even though it’s only been a couple of weeks now, I can already see this experience start to change him, little by little. He tells me about the runs he’s doing every day, he’s proud of himself for how far he’s going. He shares the strength exercises his coach is having him do. (Which, honestly, are more than I’m doing right now.)

I can see him sneaking looks at himself in the mirror; I know exactly what he’s doing, because I used to do that too. He has a little tum-tum, and he likes seeing that it’s starting to get smaller.

Even if the progress we’ve both made in our running these past couple of weeks is small, it’s still progress. It’s movement forward. It may be mostly in our imaginations — but that’s okay, because you have to start somewhere.

A few weeks ago, I put out a call for you to join me here in Atlanta this fall for the PNC Atlanta 10-Miler, which runs on Sunday, October 19.

I’ve been remiss in mentioning it since then, so I wanted to make sure you knew about it and hope you’ll join me if you can — the race course will take us through some of the best parts of the city, and I can’t wait to run it.

Here’s this week’s schedule in the 12-week training plan we’re following:

• Thursday, Aug. 28 — 4 miles

• Saturday, Aug. 30 — 6 miles

• Sunday, Aug. 31 — 2 miles

• Tuesday, Sept. 2 — 4 miles

I’ll share more with you about the race weekend as we get closer — but if you’re anywhere near Atlanta that weekend, I’d love to meet up and run with you. Here’s where you can sign up:

As always, I hope you’ve had a great week so far, and have gotten some great runs (or walks!) in. Keep in touch and keep me posted on how your running/life is going.

Your friend,

— Terrell