"Meals and Miles . . . "

I‘ve wanted to set up a new blog for a while. My first blog I set up when I was headed to Malawi seemed to symbolize my “trip.” I felt like I needed a new blog to symbolize a new beginning, a new life. My last year has been trying to say the least. But it’s time to leave all that behind. Right now I’m in Harare, Zimbabwe. I’ve been sitting here all morning trying to find the inspiration I need to push myself and my life forward. The longer I sat here, the more it seemed to elude me. You can’t force inspiration, I know that. Over the last few months I’ve been trying and failing, trying and failing. But on this trip to Harare all on my own, I was determined to turn a corner.

As I sat here trying to set up my new blog, I messed around with the settings on my old one, and clicked on the “Stats” tab. This compiles the views, by month, week, where they came from etc. etc. As I scrolled down the websites of where views from my blog came, I came across a link to a blog I’d never heard of: “Meals and Miles.” So I clicked on it. I was surprised to find “Meals and Miles” belonged to my friend Carolyn who I lived in Swaziland with. I browsed through her blog which describes her running (and eating) journey to the marathon. As I scrolled through I found a photo of her running shoes. On her left shoe she had written “BELIEVE” and on her right shoe, “ACHIEVE.” As I looked at this photo I found myself getting choked up. Choked up being proud of her. Choked up because of all I had lost in myself over the last year. And a choked up because looking at these shoes I realized I could gain everything back and more.

So, for the challenges, trials and tribulations that lie ahead in the next year, I want to say ‘thank-you’ to Carolyn for the inspiration and the reminder. I can’t wait to get home to Malawi, and write the same thing on my runners.
xoxo

Carolyns Blog: http://mealsandmiles.wordpress.com/