my new Afghan coach

On Sunday I only work a half-day in the PT clinic...

No patients came to see me this morning, so Merk and I swept, mopped, and wiped down all the equipment in the clinic.  It's true that clean floors last about 15 minutes in Afghanistan, but there was still a level of satisfaction at seeing a shiny floor and smelling the "fresh" air.

I hit the gym around lunch time...took a cliff bar break...and then headed out to complete 12 miles on the rocks.  Merk and I jogged the first 3 miles...then I completed the rest on my own.  It's basically a rectangle path ~ 1.2 miles long around the "expansion" area of the FOB where they store vehicles and supplies.  There's an Afghan guard that always comes out to watch people running by his guard tower.  The first time I saw him I was a little creeped out, but then I found out he does the same thing to other people running out there.  Put two and two together and you just figure the poor guy is bored out of his mind.  Most people don't think watching someone running is very exciting, unless your other option is watching an empty, open expanse of dirt.  I come around his tower on mile 5 and he's standing on the ground looking at his watch...then he says, "Eight minutes, you are fast!"

Somehow my "easy" long run on the rocks turned into...entertain the Afghan guard.  So I tried to keep a good pace over the rocks as I made my way around...  Next lap I come by he's at the top of the tower and yells, "oooooooh 9 minutes, you slow down!"  I yell back that I'm running 12 miles, but then as I'm running away I thought maybe I should have converted that to kilometers for him.  Every lap after that he's shouting out my split, until I come around on the last lap and I yell up at him, "last lap and I'm done, bye bye!"

It's the little things in life I have come to appreciate.  I started writing things on my computer calendar today - birthdays, holidays, big races/marathons, the changing of the seasons.  Getting my 2012 calendar together reminded me of all the wonderful things to come and really lifted my mood (that is, took it from "good" to "great").  There are those events that I can anticipate and those are all well and good.  But there are also those life events that will happen without my forethought and I think it's the unexpected that makes our lives so amazing.  We all have things happen to us that we "never would have guessed."  There are parts of our future that will always be unpredictable.  In 1998 I wasn't a runner, but in 1999 I was the first female from El Campo to ever go to the Texas State Cross Country meet.  The next year I broke records.  In 2002 I had no clue where I'd go to college or if I could afford it, and in 2003 I started school at Lipscomb University and hardly paid a dime.  In 2006, the Army hadn't crossed my mind, but in September 2008 I became a commissioned officer.  In August 2011, I thought I was at least a year from deployment, but on December 14, 2011 I flew across the ocean - destination Afghanistan.

So what will I not predict next?  Do I really need to know what's around the corner?  Is it what I think it's going to be?  If the past sets a precedence, probably not...  And that's why I'm learning to love the little things, because I can't predict the big ones all that well.

And that's what makes life amazing...going for an easy run and having an Afghan guard pace you.