January 29, 2021 – The first official Friday Night BeerBlog

In any given 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Marathon race, throngs of people pay money to enter, get their shoes ready, maybe even buy a new pair of shorts to run in. Hopefully they run at least a little going into it and may even invite a friend to do it with them. Music playlists are created, a pre-race meal is prepared, and packets are picked up the day before. They may be nervous the night before or the morning of the big event, but they still show up, line up, and GO when the gun sounds.

How many people will win the race? One. How many people who are running actually think they can win or even know who does once the race is over? Probably not very many. So why did all of these people enter? Aren’t they upset that they didn’t win? I’d say for at least 98%, maybe even 99% of participants, all of the money, preparation, showing up, and racing was about two things: The experience and finishing. In that order. They were racing to race. For them, they had won before they even started. They showed up.

There is so much pressure put on people to win, to be a winner. To succeed. To be number one. And while we be number one mom or dad to our kids, we aren’t going to be number one everywhere else. But it shouldn’t keep us from wanting to try new things, to experience a whole new world sometimes. Pushing ourselves to do new things, to learn new things, to accomplish new things are areas where most of us should stretch ourselves a little more. Because when you open yourself up to curiosity, you never know where it may lead you.

Months and months ago my friend Barry said I should start a podcast. It sounded fun, but how could I do that? Who would listen? I would most assuredly fail. But the idea didn’t leave me. I thought about it even more than I’d like to admit. One day in December I decided to run that race, so I found a podcast host, created artwork, learned Garageband software, bought a microphone, researched and licensed music, recorded and edited an open, secured and recorded an interview via zoom, put a podcast together, and uploaded it to apple podcasts.

It’s been a busy month.

When I announced on Instagram that this podcast was now a living thing out there for everyone to experience, I asked those who follow me to remember that you don’t judge a man’s marathon time when it’s the first time he has ever run. It was my way of declaring that I was entering the race, but I was not expecting to win. I was racing to race. I’m here for the experience. I know I won’t get to the line first, but I’m okay with that. I just want to enjoy the screams and yells of people from the sidelines as I run the course. I want to enjoy the whole journey of this thing that I’m doing.

I’m in no rush. I am going veer of course occasionally. But that’s okay. I mean, I’ve done a few training runs, but I’ve never run this far before. But it feels pretty freaking awesome. And now that the agonizing part of the first race is over and I’m not so sore, I think I may try it again.

I encourage you to test your comfort zone. Choose something; something creative, something physical, something thought provoking and pick at it like a scab. Bug yourself until you can’t stand it anymore and dive in head first. It won’t be perfect, but who cares – nobody is going to fire you from your own adventures and pleasure. They’re yours.

On that note, if you get an opportunity, check out my first podcast episode and subscribe. It is on Apple podcast, Spotify, Google podcasts, Stitcher and all the places where podcasts live. Or you can punch the orange RSS symbol at the bottom of the page – that works.

The gun has just sounded the start, so I’m running really fast in this first half mile, but I will find a good pace and settle in.

I thank you for being there and cheering from the sidelines.

LLM

Cheers!