Shut Up And Sit Down, Hula

I’ve been somewhat frustrated with my running lately. I did a four mile race recently and was lousy. I wanted to improve over last year’s time for that race, and I did not. In fact, I was a minute slower. I have been winded and out of steam for about three weeks. I have blamed it on exhaustion, the heat and asthma, everything but me. I have whined and moaned and griped and have been all blah, blah, blah and waaa, waaa, waaa about it. In fact, I whined more than I ran last week. I was so busy belly aching about it that I couldn’t see the root of the problem….until I opened up my email this morning.

Like you, I get a lot of stuff in my email-box, everything from goofy jokes and funny commercials to mandates directing me to drop everything this second and pray a special prayer to keep from going to Hell. Amidst all of the junk emails that had collected over the weekend was a little nugget that I have nicknamed Why Hula Pulled Her Head out of Her Butt and Got a Better Attitude. This came just when I needed it, (Is that God winking at me?) and I’m going to share it with you. Promise me that you’ll watch it. I think it’s worth four minutes and 36 seconds of your time. You may have even seen it before because the father and son in this video have been quietly winning hearts in the running world for several years. In all of the reading I’ve done on running since I started this hobby last year, I had not stumbled across them…until now…..and I’m kind of glad it happened now and not earlier.

Their story is one of a young man who asked his father to run a marathon with him, even though neither one of them was a runner. He did. They tried another and then another. They kept going, eventually tackling the Iron Man Triathlon. As you watch this, keep in mind that the Iron Man consists of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run (full marathon). Now, you’ll have to go watch the video before you’ll understand the rest of this post. If you’re a softy like me (this means you janjanmom and mia) you might want to grab a tissue. And because I’m a blogging idiot and haven’t taken the time to figure out the whole how to post a video thing you’ll just have to use this link. Go ahead. I’ll wait. I mean it, don’t cheat. I’m waiting.

Team Hoyt video

Done yet? Okay. How moving was THAT?! Since 1979 they have competed in 958 events, including 224 triathlons and 65 marathons (25 at Boston). They have won numerous awards, and their paces are fast. They are not in the back of the pack.

Well, I had to watch this video twice and when I quit I told myself to just SHUT up and sit down. “That’s right, Hula. Quit your itchen’ and shut up. You’re mouthin’ about being slow while some folks are climbing over mountains much bigger. The good Lord gave you two good legs when others have none. You’ve got two good lungs while others can’t breathe, and two good eyes and ears when some folks can’t see or hear (including your father in law.) If that man can run, swim and bike a triathlon while carrying, dragging and pushing his son, you can haul your happy butt down the highway for a few miles and be happy that God gave you the tools to do it and another day to try. So just shut up.” And I did. And you know what? I ran at lunch today and had the best run I’ve had in a month. If you need me, I’ll be right over here in the corner thanking the good Lord for all of my blessings and keeping my mouth shut. And if you’d like to read more about Team Hoyt and their trials and successes, you can check out their website. I highly recommend it.