Dial in the WHY and Everything Else Falls Into Place

Learning to handle the surprises is half the battle.

There are times when, seemingly out of nowhere, a surprise will come at you, and you’ll need to adapt all your carefully laid plans.

This is the situation I found myself in as we did a mandatory Teams meeting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director in my upcoming 200-mile race.

Everything was going well until, out of the blue, she announced that we couldn’t be on refuge property which included the beach we run out on and the beach we return on from 6:20 PM until 6:10 AM.

This tiny area of the 220-mile race is only 4.5 miles long, but it suddenly made every decision the runners will make along the course of this challenge much more difficult.

4.5 miles of beach that we cannot cross in the dark isn’t a problem since we start at 8 AM, but your strategy of crossing the nearly 22 miles of beach with no support suddenly takes on new parameters at the end of 200 miles of facing down the weather, the necessity to support yourself from convenience stores along the route and it all comes down to deciding how to handle the last 4.5 miles so you don’t get the race directors in trouble.

Considering this is a challenge not for bragging rights of who is the fittest but to raise funds for the tens of thousands of American veterans who have returned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with no visible wounds, but deep trauma that goes unmet by the Veteran’s Administration made this set-back hit a little deeper.

I woke up in the middle of the night and was stewing about yet another federal government worker who has no clue about the challenges of those of us who navigate life without the full force of the federal government backing our every interpretation of rules.

Then suddenly, as I stewed and gave my anger and frustration a voice, another still, small voice spoke loud and clear.

All this voice asked was, “WHY?”

Why Push Yourself Physically When It Doesn’t Matter

As I began to contemplate the greatest question we can ask ourselves, I was suddenly filled with a peace that is beyond comprehension.

Why do I run this race? It’s not as if I stand any chance of winning or even hitting the podium. I am not blessed with speed, just a disciplined method of constantly moving forward.

If I don’t stand a chance of winning, does it even matter that I go out and do this race?

As I contemplated the why question, my heart was filled with the tens of thousands of veterans who have fought so I can have the freedom to go out and challenge myself in this race.

Many of these men and women come home with no visible injuries. They are processed out of active duty service, and nobody ever asks them how they are dealing with the trauma of seeing their fellow brothers and sisters in arms blown up with IEDs, coming home with missing limbs, or never making it home at all.

These men and women are released many times back to their small towns and villages, far from the VA hospital systems that could help them deal with this trauma.

They get out of the military, get jobs, and often live quiet lives of desperation.

Sadly, the statistics still show that, on average, twenty-two veterans a day decide that trying to fend for themselves and trying to continue living isn’t worth it, and they commit suicide.

The Veteran’s Administration and the U.S. federal government are unprepared to deal with these tragedies.

And that is where organizations like Awareness n’ Action come in.

These organizations take the place of government programs that can’t possibly reach out to men and women all over our great country and get them involved by paying for gym memberships, paying for service animals, and, most importantly, getting these men and women and their families counseling to learn to deal with the darkness that overwhelms them.

I run Swammie Shuffle 200 not for the belt buckle I will receive at the end of the race but in memory of those who have given up on life and, more importantly, to raise any amount of money I possibly can for these men and women that deserve so much.

My dream is to run and raise funds so that these men and women can be rooted out of the darkness and brought into the glorious light that says they are worth it all and deserve to live life to the full, an ultra life.

Turning Darkness Into Light

As I refocused my why in the correct direction, I was filled with tremendous peace that all the details of where to stop and when to stop as I approached these last thirty miles would all work out.

I do have a lot of options. There is one last hotel thirty-two miles from the finish, ten miles from where the sand begins if I hit that mark after noon, there is no way to be across the refuge before it closes at 6:20 PM.

I can always stop there and get a good night’s sleep and start for the finish at 1 AM.

Or I could figure out how to dig a bivy hole in the sand 4.5 miles from the finish and sleep until 6:10 AM. Then I just go and finish out the last portion.

It all comes down to fully dialing in my why and staying focused on the men and women I will help with my run.

Life will always throw you situations that frustrate you and seemingly throw you off your run.

How you handle these situations is key.

The more you turn the darkness into light, the freer you run and live in the light of the day.

The more you focus on others instead of your glory or achievements, the more light you spread in the sometimes overwhelming darkness.

If you’d like to be a part of helping our deserving veterans who suffer in silence, often alone, you can go to this link and hit the donation button. Give up a cup of coffee this week and shine some light on somebody’s life.