When Life Comes Full Circle

overdressed and underprepared...story of my life...

Saturday I FINALLY got to run in the Police Memorial 5k. I've missed it every year due to prior engagements of failing CPAT tests, working, traveling, hunting, etc. It's just never worked out. I forced myself out of bed Saturday am to run in the chilly fall air (one of my least favorite things ever...I overdressed preparing for a blizzard and -therefore- sweat my binoskis off the entire morning) Since I was running alone, I snuck my iPod onto the course with me, knowing it was a bad idea. More on that later.

Saturday was the most random day of my life. I should probably not say that because now there's sure to be more oddities laying in the road ahead of me. Waiting on the race to start, a photographer asked if he could 'grab a quick photo of (us) guys." My brain went "who guys? me guys? I'm here alone. I'm with no guys." And before I knew it I was standing next to an elderly gentleman smiling awkwardly and trying to explain to the photographer that I didn't know this person. So, when there's a picture of me and a random gray-haired fellow in the newspaper, that is NOT my Dad. (contrary to what my t-shirt implies) The photo probably won't make it...I'm pretty sure it looks like something off of awkward family photos or people of Wal-Mart, or maybe something in between. Anyways, back to the iPod. I ran along choking down the sewage fumes that engulfed pretty much the entire course for the 5k and noticed a crew of Bomb Squad guys pointing at me and mouthing words I couldn't hear. Then I felt a swift yank at my left arm and was flung out of the way of a cyclist on the trail. One thing about being amongst cops, they're always on the lookout for oblivious idiots like me so we don't endanger those around us.

This was my worst 5k time ever. And I mean ever. Worse than my very first 5k right out of the shoot. Oh well, I did it to show my support and gratitude, not to make PRs. We all have off days...and we all have to face the consequences of eating crap and sleeping through training sessions.

Two years ago, I missed this race because I took the firefighter Candidate Physical Aptitude Test...and I failed. Right then and there, my lifepath changed course. I had trained and trained and trained and I had failed. So here I was, two years later, running the worst 3.2 miles of my life, getting pulled out of the way by the bomb squad, and getting photographed with randoms. I spent the day trying to figure out where in the world God is leading me and how in the world I've managed to "screw things up" so badly along the way. And then later, I went in to work to train a prospective client. To begin our session, this client informed me he wanted to be a firefighter, and had already passed the CPAT test. So here I was, two years later, training a client who could already pass the very test that had thwarted my lifelong ambitions. I'll spare you the details and just say the training session was awesome and this was my favorite thus far. I actually had some knowledge to pass on to him and some new challenges to guide him through. I started thinking I'd be a total waste of this guy's time, and left feeling like I maybe really am doing what I'm meant to be doing right now.

Be still and know that I am the Lord ~Psalm 46:10

 

  

I recovered on Sunday with some gluten free cinnamon rolls clusters (I'll just pretend there was never any hope of these being "rolls") and my usual Lions mug of coffee.

 

 

And here's where my week got awesome....

 

 

...found this at the grocery store this morning. This really is too tasty to just be a seasonal delight.