A Pile of Stones

Sorry its been a while, friends! We're gonna get deep today... I apologize in advance.

Beneath a tree near the top of a particularly large hill on California street in the Dundee neighborhood of Omaha, there is a pile of stones. Its nothing remarkable, about two feet in diameter and maybe a foot tall, and the stones are all about the size of a golf ball. It will more than likely be removed at some point by the property owner. Why am I writing about this pile of stones, you ask? Because I put it there, and each stone means something to me.

I got the idea from one of those inspirational YouTube videos. Basically, in the video, you see this guy get up one morning, grab a small rock from his driveway, and start running. Finally, after the voice-over says a bunch of inspirational stuff about never giving up, the guy tosses the rock on this huge pile of similar rocks at the top of a hill. He looks out over the city, and it flashes back to his former self putting the first rock on the hill, and all the changes he's gone through since.

"That's a neat idea!" I thought. On my next run, a cold day this last spring, I grabbed a small stone from my apartment's parking lot, and took off. I went on my favorite-least-favorite hilly route, and put the rock under a tree, and that was how it all began. The other night I was tossing yet another rock on the pile, and I noticed how big it had gotten, almost without me realizing it. I couldn't help but feel proud of myself. I was building a mountain.

There's rocks in there that are probably still cold from some of our late spring snowstorms. There are rocks that probably still have some of my sweat on them from some of our scorchers this summer. There's rocks that smell more like Coors Light than sweat from those Sunday mornings after nights out with the boys. There's rocks put there when I should've been at work, or hanging out with my girlfriend, or applying for grad school, or doing anything but running but I just couldn't do anything else but run. Yes, there's all sorts of my blood, sweat, and tears from hard times and heartbreaks that hold that pile of rocks together like mortar.

How much have I changed since that first day this spring? Well, I've PR'ed in my 10k off the bike, for one. I'm swimming and riding better all across the board than I have since, well, ever. On a deeper level, I've grown so much stronger, and grittier, and hungrier. I'm sure I've grown up a ton, given all the life changes I've had since then. The funny thing about consistency is it breeds more consistency. Suddenly, your consistent effort is your habit, a part of who you are.

People always want quick results and quicker answers, but that's not how all things work. How did I cut a minute off my 10k off the bike? By running almost every damn day. Rain, shine, tidal wave, hangover, whatever, I ran.

I've seen so much frustration with my clients at the gym. They don't get quick results, and so they give up. On the other hand, I've seen too many people disappoint themselves by comparing themselves to others who have been doing it way longer than they have. You just can't carry all those stones up that hill on California street at once, trust me, its too steep.

I'm not done building my pile of stones. Maybe it'll be a mountain someday, or maybe it'll get scooped up by some annoyed property owner. All I can do is keep building it, one rock at a time.

So I guess what I'm trying to say here is, be patient. The next time you are wondering why you haven't seen success in whatever you do, ask yourself, have you given it a consistent effort? How big is your pile of stones?

Hope this helps, y'all! FOLLOW THE PACE RABBIT!