It's Just a Game

Several years ago our youngest son played on a local 6 year's old rec-league baseball team. One warm summer Saturday morning, the little guys were having a tough time of it.  The other team was racking up runs faster than Charlie Sheen's Twitter followers.  In our dugout, one guy was chasing a bug on the concrete floor. Two other fellas were discussing some issue from school.  Another player was tracing with his index finger, something he saw in the clouds over center field. 

With yet another ping of the bat, their attention was drawn to the field where another opposing player ran to first base, and two more kids raced around the the bases to cross home plate.  It was turning into quite a beating.

As the dust settled, and the next player came to the plate, one of the little guys, the one who had been playing with the bug, looked up to me and asked: "What's the score?"

I hesitated, but tried my best to break it to him gently: "Well, it's 12 to nothing..." I said.

He looked up at me with mild interest, and then went back to playing with the bug.  And then he asked: "Who's winning?"

I thought of this story as I headed out this morning for my Saturday morning run. It's been a whole week since I last ran.  The week was either too busy, too cold and rainy, or just too complicated to get out and run.  But, as it turns out, this morning's run was just fine. It was like I hadn't missed a beat from last Sunday.  I've got a 1/2 Marathon on my running calendar next Sunday.  It is the first "race" that I haven't obsessively trained for.  I'm looking forward to running the race with a couple friends -something I've never done before.  On race day, I may be more concerned about my time; I may get competitive juices flowing, but right now, I'm just going to enjoy the journey.  I'm not worring about, "Who's winning?"