Today’s post is brought to you by the letter “K.” (I’m blogging the alphabet in April. Read the details at Suzy & Spice here or the Blogging from A-Z page here.)
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At my small rural church many years ago, folks would file out of the sanctuary after the sermon and congregate on the lawn, the sidewalks, the parking lot … anywhere just to talk.
Or, in the case of the little kids, to run around and just be kids.
I didn’t realize how seriously the kids took this playtime until one day I heard an exchange between young Adam and his mom, who on this day apparently didn’t have the usual time for chitchat. The family just needed to load up in the car and leave.
Carol: “Adam, we have to go.”
Adam: “But I didn’t get to run!”
Simple enough. In Adam’s mind, post-church fellowship meant burning off energy outdoors.
For a kid, that’s what running is. It’s not the chore that we adults sometimes make it (me included). For kids, running is a joyful, freeing experience.
Funny thing is, they don’t think about it much.
Like the adults do. Obsessively.
One of the great things about being part of a busy running community – especially one with young families – is getting to see the kids run … for fun. Some of them – lots of them, in fact – win medals or trophies, but I imagine that most of them do it for fun, at least when they’re younger.
So, in honor of the kids in the White River Roadrunners club, the kids who run in our local races (around Batesville, Ark.) and just kids in general, here are a few scenes I like:
“There are as many reasons for running as there are days in the year, years in my life. But mostly I run because I am an animal and a child, an artist and a saint. So, too, are you. Find your own play, your own self-renewing compulsion, and you will become the person you are meant to be.”
– George Sheehan
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Monday: L is for C.S. Lewis.
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