“Close some doors today. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because they lead you nowhere.”      Paulo Coelho

I found a doorway that I have come to rely on closed and locked this morning. The lesson learned at the end of the day was that I should have allowed this door to close a long time ago. It literally lead me nowhere. The doorway I am referring to is the entrance to the high school track a couple blocks from our home. This morning I spent the usually time between home and the track doing my brisk walk warm up so that when I hit the track I was warmed up and ready for my run, that is generally how all my morning runs start. However this time when I arrived at the entrance to the track I found it chained and locked. My new, no excuses attitude wouldn’t let me give up. I still had to get in my run. I was warmed up and ready to go. Right then and there I decided to hit the streets and run through town.

I was relying on the track due to a regular battle with shin splints in my early weeks of running. The track seemed to alleviate the recurrence. Since then my legs have become stronger, my running more regular and I have invested in appropriate running shoes. With all these changes to help fight the pain I still relied on the track and was afraid to hit the hard concrete found on our city sidewalks. Today forced me into a change. I either had to pound the pavement or give up the run. No giving up. No excuses. It was time to rock the sidewalk.

What a joy! It was so refreshing to actually let my legs take me somewhere rather than just round and round the track. New sights and sounds. New challenges and goals. I went further and harder than usual and loved every minute of it!

So what are the other doors that I need to close? I have been getting really good at closing the doors on negativity. I have closed the door to people that don’t believe in me. That was a big heavy door. It tries to open, but I am vigilant about being there to brace it whenever the latch comes loose. I am hoping as I close all these doors that lead me nowhere it will make it easier to figure out which doors will take me to the place where I am the best me I can be.

Will I sometimes go back to the track? Absolutely! Fifty year old knees that have carried way too much weight for too long deserve a break. But now I know I have options. I have places to go, and oh the places I will go!