MOVE: December 5, 2014

The Final Turn

Spoiler Summary: Before you know it, what's old will be new again; the many challenges will be things of the past - sooo 2014.  Whether you stumbled out of the gates, crashed along the way or everything is going just right and you're setting a new personal best, you're entering the finish chute, we hope you'll take a second to soak it in - appreciate the moment.

The annual Turkey Trot in Flemington, NJ is a really big deal for my team.  Seems sort of funny when I think about that statement....equally funny when I type it....but it's true, the local 5K, which is at least as much "good cause" as it is race, run each year on Thanksgiving morning, is a really big deal to a group of people who have raced some of the biggest, longest, fastest and most grueling events on the globe.  I never would have guessed in 2005, when we first entered a team, that nine-iterations later (each with unique jersey proudly hanging on the walls at BaseCamp31) and with 10 times the number of members on the team now, we would still get so excited about it.....but we do.

I think the excitement comes less because of what the race "is" than what it represents.  Thanksgiving, although a holiday I often sarcastically joke about being fabricated by retailers, is one of the few times of the year that we are all (society) willing to press pause and put CONNECT front and center - so important. Since finding a turkey big enough to feed 200 would be tough and very few other acceptable excuses to cater holiday dinner around a run seem to exist, it works out well; but it's more than that.  It's the cold weather and the hope that people will still brave it.  It's the opportunity to cheer someone in who is giving it their all including the many who have never done it before.  And functionally, it represents one of the most exciting sections of any event: the final turn, the beginning of the homestretch....the controlled chaos of the last push.....the final moments...in this case of 2014.  It represents "the finish chute"....and whether it's the radio stations going "all Christmas songs all the time" or some other cue that reminds you....we're there.

If you've never experienced the finish chute, it might be hard to really understand; but if you've lived it first hand, or ever seen a great race, you know exactly what I'm talking about. All of the sudden, the discomfort (pain in some cases) seems to step-aside, making way for the surge of energy that you've been waiting for...even though you weren't quite sure it was going to show up.  Every nerve ending is on high alert, doing its part to MOVE you toward that simple little line despite your knowledge that you ran out of FUEL a while ago. A minute ago you would have just as happily laid down if given the option, but that was a minute ago.....that's ancient history.  

Admittedly, it leads to an arbitrary mark on the pavement most days, one that most folks walk by without giving a second thought .....but not you....not now.  Right now, it's the final test of your resolve, the almost non-existent space that looks more like a chasm between you and the chance to catch your breath and RECOVER.....it's the only thing that stands between you and the proof whether the challenge was too great, the answer to the question "will you have what it takes to ENDURE this time?".  It's something you know you'll look back on and laugh about someday, but not right now. At this moment it's everything to you.  And if you do it right, if you soak it in, you almost feel as if you're being carried.....and it's a darn good thing, because if you weren't you might just find out why the person standing on the other side of the little arbitrary line is called a "catcher".

Listen closely. You can hear the music and the announcer now.....you've just rounded the last turn and the finish is in sight.....you're in 2014's chute, and whether it's been your personal best or "not your best race", whether you're going to "kick" to the finish or wave to the crowd on the way by, I hope you'll have a minute to enjoy it....as this moment too (like so many others before it), shall pass.  

But it hasn't yet.  And so, in addition to thanking you for having my team along on the 2014 journey with you, I'll encourage you the same way I did my 13 year old when she made the final turn a week ago onto Main Street in Flemington, NJ:

"NOW YOU GO"

.....and do something extraordinary,

Mike Eisenhart, PT

Managing Partner, Pro-Activity