"The road goes ever on and on"

True Trail Runners: Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Lord Of The Rings

Yesterday, someone asked me, "Do you like Lord of the Rings?"

I replied, "No, not really.  When I was in high school I watched the first movie of the trilogy six times in the theater, but that was about the extent of my fandom."

***I did write an earlier blog post called "What Would Bilbo Do?"
****I also collected Lord Of The Rings action figures during my fandom, I still have them somewhere

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I came across this Lord of the Rings quote when I was finishing up the Iowa Awake My Sole trek:

“The road goes ever on and on” 

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

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The last mile of the 1339 mile Iowa Awake My Sole journey.  Taken in December 2012.
Pic courtesy of Sioux City Journal 

After running and speaking across the state of Iowa for the year, I didn't get to the end of the yearlong journey, and say "I'm done with life."

I was done with this particular task, but I wasn't finished with living.  

I was merely at the beginning of something new, unknown, challenging and unexpected.

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I've seen people set a goal, work towards achieving it, and when achieved, they wrestle with "What's next?  How could I possibly set another goal, or achieve something like I just achieved?"

This road of life goes "on and on."

Where and when does it end?

Some believe it's at our last breath.  Others believe our last breath is the ushering into what's next.

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Author Donald Miller often writes about how he goes about seeking out the next adventure for his life.  He envisions the end of his life, standing before Creator God who says, "Well done my good and faithful servant."  From this envisioned encounter with Creator God, he tries to implement things that would evoke such words from Creator God.
 
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Some quotes from Donald Miller's book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life

“It wasn't necessary to win for the story to be great, it was only necessary to sacrifice everything.” 

“If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn’t cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn’t tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you’d seen. The truth is, you wouldn't remember that movie a week later, except you’d feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.  But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to be meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won't make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either”

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music from the Awake My Sole journey

"This is Not the End" by Gungor

Ten Days

Ten days, the running portion of the Awake My Sole journey will be coming to an end.  A routine of running, speaking, resting, meeting new people and discovering Iowa towns will come to an end.

Yes, a bittersweet feeling:  a feeling of achievement and accomplishment in finishing this yearlong journey across the state of Iowa, while at the same time a sadness and mourning in thinking the end of this journey is near.

A reminder while running to each Iowa town

Honestly, I always dreamt the journey would come to an end, but never actually thought I would be here.  At the beginning, a year seemed like such a long period of time, but with less than two weeks till the finish, it seems like such a short period of time.

So much has happened and yet so much has remained the same.

Time moves forward, and I am looking forward to what's next, especially with the Awake My Sole journey.  Already in the process of thinking and praying for what's to come.  Maybe someone else will take on the AMS journey across the state, or perhaps a relay, or writing a book of the journey, or perhaps a speaking tour across the state with other motivational speakers.

Who knows?

I do know that finishing this journey well is equally as important as when I started, as well as the planning stage, and for whatever comes next.

Many people have asked, "Do you still enjoy running and speaking?"

My answer, "Yes, I do."

Some days on the journey were really tough, and some weeks of speaking were overwhelming, but at the same time there were some days that were excellent and I felt the "runner's high" as I ran to the next town, or connecting well with the group of people I got to speak to.

Overall, this journey has been a story of risk.  In the risky and unknown having to truly rely on the Creator and others for my needs to be met, while at the same time planning and preparing in a way that brings a joy and meaningfulness.

My story is not your story, my journey is not your journey, but we are both writing a story with our life.

Ten days, the Awake My Sole journey comes to an end, however it's not THE END, but truly the beginning.  The beginning of what?  Not sure, but preparing and planning for whatever does come, while at the same time enjoying the moment.

Ten days.  Yesterday it was Eleven, tomorrow it will be Nine, together, whatever journey we may be on, let's live in a way in which each day of the journey we live well.  Some days wont be the best, and some days will be super rad; allow us to embrace them, because the bigger picture is a healthy balance of both.

Ten days....