Just don't want to be the slowest person anymore

So yesterday, Jeremy and I took a small group of Boy Scouts out on what has become our weekly training run in preparation for BolderBoulder. Calvin is an excellent runner, but Hobbes is not and often struggles quite a bit. However, for whatever reason, no one wanted to run yesterday and my biggest thing was to get all the boys to at least take the 5 miles at a fast walk if they weren't going to run.

With the pressure off, Hobbes was surprisingly quick. Instead of lagging behind the whole group, he was trying his best to keep up. He told me that his personal goal for the day was to not be the last person for a change. I can totally relate. It seems as though no matter how hard I try, or how much I train, everyone else always seems to be faster than me, better than me. Sometimes it can be hard to want to put myself out there and try.

This afternoon, I went out for a bike ride, my first real ride of the season. I have a triathlon in June, and I have been woefully lax on my training. I was sure that my ride today was going to be hard and slow and just suck in general, however I found myself going well, taking the hills comfortably, and for the first time ever not the slowest person on two wheels. It felt good to feel strong in spite of not having ridden these past few weeks/months.

On our run yesterday, Hobbes fulfilled his personal goal and was not the last person to the park. He wasn't the fastest, but he wasn't the slowest and for him that was all that mattered. At least he was out there trying... all the boys were. We spent an hour an forty five minutes going five miles, and in the end that is an hour and forty five minutes the boys were not spending indoors, laying on the sofa watching TV or playing video games. 

Sometimes it's hard to try, but being out there doing your best is better than not trying at all.