Evidenced-Based Hope

And I'm specifically thinking about, you know, when you have a set route in mind about how you're going to get somewhere and life, life's and you got to go around a way that you weren't planning.

And, you know, when you are feeling yourself on a particular timeline, that can be really frustrating.

I'm going to take you back just last year, actually.

And this is more of a personal journey for me at the beginning of 2025.

So like by the end of the previous year, 2024, early in the new year, I had really done like a bounce back into my running game and was exercising routinely.

And I was just like, 2025, I'm coming for you.

I had signed up for, you know, two half marathons in the spring.

I was planning the international race in Portugal in September.

And then, you know, that's when I was kind of toying with the And like, you know, using the back half of the year to train for that.

And so I was all about running, running, running, running.

And what was nice about that is, you know, I had joined this running club that I think we've talked about that, you know, happened to run right outside my house, like, you know, around Lake Merritt.

So it was just like, you know, on Wednesday evenings, I could just, you know, get home from work, change and just pop right outside and join this group.

And part of why I loved running with this group is because there was this girl that I met there who happened to be someone that I really wanted to be good friends with.

Like we had chopped it up the first time we met and, you know, had hung out and talked after a couple of run clubs.

And it was just like the opportunity to like reconnect with her.

The other thing that was important is that at that time, she was quite faster than me and I was really excited.

I was getting in better shape.

I was getting faster and I was just like, man, I'm going to beat this girl and it's going to be spectacular.

So as I was training that year, winter transitioning into spring, you know, it was no big deal to get up and get a nine or 10 mile run in.

So a couple of loops around this or the Lake Merritt trail.

And suddenly I would say probably like late February, March, where I was having more and more difficulty getting around the lake.

It got to a point where like I could barely run a mile without having to stop.

So I went from double digit miles to like one.

And, you know, I would get halfway around the lake and I would feel like my legs were just like lead everywhere.

you know, just so heavy and fatigued.