Well, thank the maker that’s over with. Yeesh, how about that 2019, huh? It was pretty much a rerun of 2018 and 2017. Ya know, I was never really a fan of “Make America Great” but I’m thinking I might be all in this year.
“Make America Great Again… Because the Last Three Years Have Made It Worse.”
Anyhoo, I’m sad to report that thus far this year feels like “2019 (cont’d).” But there’s still time to right this ship… we’ve only just begun.
I wish you and yours the happiest of new years, filled with overcoming obstacles, strife, worry, fear, and anger and instead finding victories, warmth, laughter, and fun.
Speaking of victories, the last US Postal Service delivery of 2019 brought me the latest issue of Runner’s World. I can usually skim through it just slightly longer than it takes me to flip through an US Weekly at the doctor’s office. I say this not because I’m not interested in how Stars are Just Like You and Me (OH! They’re just like US… like the magazine title… well, isn’t that clever). No, no — I usually skim the RW because despite having a runner’s blog and running a whole lot, I can only take so much running talk, ya know? It’s why these blog posts often zip off into tangents and never really make a whole lot of sense. I still maintain that isn’t undisciplined laziness at refusing to proof read or rewrite segments — it’s all part of the “vibe” and “mission statement” of Run Kevin Run Dot Com — to pull back the curtain and let the various onion layers of me, warts and all, show what’s it’s like to run a lot and maybe, just maybe, tell a tale or two. It’s not a huge goal but it’s all I got.
Again, digression. The latest RW has a sub-banner headline subtly blaring “Why the PV is the new PR.” It’s an article written by Jess Movold and is a well-written “runner’s article.” I think she could’ve stretched the concept to life in general but maybe that’s not the right call for a piece in Runner’s World. It’s implied, for sure, but maybe I’m too much of a concrete random and wanted it spelled out a bit more.
The gist of the article though is that instead of constantly chasing “Personal Records” (PRs) and being disappointed at not breaking new time barriers (whoever would be so self-centered?!), we should be looking at celebrating “Personal Victories” (PVs). I was really into the notion and what Movold was getting at — until I perhaps unfairly felt a “well, duh” epiphany that it was the first issue of 2020. The Personal Victories she challenges readers to find are essentially New Year’s Resolutions wrapped up in shiny “new and improved” packaging. To mix holiday seasons though, I would advise instead of setting one particular PV for the new year, one should keep PVs with you, all through the year.
It being the time of year for reflection and old acquaintances not forgot, the Personal Victories idea reminded me of a quote I used to have pinned to my college bulletin board. While others had a cat hanging by his claw and the inspirational saying “Hang in there!” scrawled across the bottom, I marched to the beat of a slightly different drummer. Lifetimes ago, a girl I was dating gave me a copy of Paul Reiser’s “Couplehood.” Turns out it was an anti-gift in that not too long after we “consciously uncoupled” but that’s really not the point here. Reiser wrote in one of his comedic advisories that
“You need to appreciate the little things in life… because the big things may never come and then you’ve hung around for nothing.”
That’s a bastardization and paraphrase; long ago, in a post-breakup purge, my copy of the book was lost and I’m too lazy to try and find the actual quote via a google search. But that is very much in keeping with striving for SVs — or what I would encourage us all to look for in 2020. The Small Victories. We may not get our big victories… and I worry Election Day here in the US will be more “Revenge of the Sith” and less than “A New Hope” to put it in Star Wars parlance… but we can perhaps savor our small victories, day by day, hour by hour.
I haven’t thought of that quote in some time. Maybe I should have kept it tacked onto a bulletin board in the intervening years as a reminder to hang in there on the little things. My hope for 2020 then is that we all appreciate the little things individually… and perhaps this will lead us all to bigger things collectively.
And because it’s a day that end in Y, I tried to get out for a run. I had this idea of doing a 20/20 thing, where I’d run a 20K at 10:30 PM on December 31st, then watch the ball drop in NYC on TV, and go out and run another 20K just after midnight. But I didn’t do that. Instead, I ran a 20K on the 31st and just got back from a 20K this morning… so the small victory is that I *did* the distances… just maybe not the way I had envisioned.
Hindsight, they say, is 20/20. May we learn from our pasts and do better in the future.
Speaking of which, I need to go sign up for a race before the price goes up tomorrow… until next time:
