Claim Your Journey

Recently celebrating a birthday had me thinking about my journey.  I’m not impervious to thinking, like many of us do, about what we have yet to achieve instead of being thankful for what we’ve already accomplished.

Life is indeed a journey.  The journey is not going to be easy and no one is going to give you anything.  You have to believe in yourself and claim what you want!  GO GET IT!  It’s easy when all is going well, but it’s during the times when life gets tough and you begin to question yourself that you find out what you’re made of.  It’s not a secret that you want to be successful.  Who doesn’t?  Are you willing to deal with the setbacks and overcome the adversity?

The first book about running that I read was My Life on the Run by Bart Yasso.  It chronicled his life and he didn’t shy away from circumstances that had adverse effects on his life.  His hardships and challenges were not indicative of his success.  One of the concepts I took from his book was his insight about our journey.  Bart said, “Never limit where running can take you because each race has the potential for adventure.”  Running has taken me places I never thought it would.  I now anticipate each race potentially being an adventure and I welcome the possibility.

The title of this blog was by virtue of running allowing me to meet people and see different places.  Claim Your Journey, launched by Brandon Williams in January 2011, is a digital guide for running in Louisiana.  If you want to be informed about running in the “Creole State,” this is the place to go.  The video below captures what it’s like to Run Louisiana.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slCMNZYAHaE&w=560&h=315]

Why is an Arkansan talking about this? My running community is not limited to Arkansas.  Why would it be? I stumbled onto this cool group of people while on Twitter.  They were having one of their #RunLA chats one Wednesday evening.  I joined the conversation and I’ve been a fan ever since.  How could I not support a positive movement like this?

I wanted to witness what they were about firsthand. I finally made it down to Louisiana for a race in early June.  The trails were calling me and I couldn’t resist Hell’s Hills 10k/Half Marathon.  The name foreshadowed the devilish twists and turns of the course.  Although this was the first year for the half marathon, it was evident this wasn’t the first time Forge Racing has organized a stellar event.  They sure know how to make an Arkansan feel at home.

Glad it was well marked!

This birthday didn’t put me into a different age group, as many runners would be ecstatic about, but it did come with a sense of fulfillment.  I don’t know where this journey will take me next, but you had better believe I’m claiming it to be a great one!

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