“Cause we’re the masters of our own fate”

I want to give a small, perhaps even trivial, example of how taking concrete actions can impact the trajectory of our lives.

If you follow me, you know that I love running. My passion for running, however, has been a very self-centered journey. In recent years, I’ve made running — a significant part of my life, for better or worse. I run every day, write about running, and think about it a lot.

But how many people love running? Many. I once read that pursuing endurance sports is the new midlife crisis. Maybe that’s true. Perhaps running has become a way for me to channel unfulfilled potential from other areas of my life, such as my career.

I was and still am aware of the risk of tying too much of my identity to running. But I wasn’t ready to let go of my passion, so I’ve been thinking of ways to expand my love for running in new directions.

In April, I reached out to the high school coach of my son’s cross-country team. I had this message exchange with the coach:

I should note that at the time of this exchange, my son was no longer at school — having graduated and started college a year ago — so my decision to contact the coach was not as straightforward as it might seem.