Don't Judge A Runner by Their Garbage Bag

The weather was terrible for the annual Billy Taylor 5K race in Guelph. The sky opened early in the morning and continued dumping water on the racers throughout the day. The wind howled and the air was bone-chattering cold, even for April. But I couldn't have cared less.

I was running one of the best races in my 12 year old life, and, besides being a little cold and wet, I was feeling great. I was feeling invincible. No one could match me, not the runners in their professional looking garb or the 'big kids' with their long strides, no one.

And that is when I learned a very humbling and very important lesson.

As I was trotting along, I caught a flash of dull green out of the corner of my eye. I looked sideways and saw a running garbage bag. That couldn't be! A garbage bag running? I looked closer and saw the garbage bag had legs and arms and a head. And the garbage bag, or should I say the person in the garbage bag, was pushing a stroller. The runner whizzed past me without even looking like she was breaking a sweat.

I was shocked. How could someone in a garbage bag and pushing a stroller beat me, the invincible kid, the running phenom?

However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I must have eaten a bad pre-race banana or something to think I was that good and to really believe that just because someone isn't dressed like the front runners in the Boston Marathon doesn't mean they can't run like one.

My run in with the running garbage bag is similar to all sort of situations in life.

Sometimes we get too arrogant and believe that just because someone doesn't act the way we do or look the way we do or have the same lifestyle we do that they can't possibly be as successful or righteous as we are. They can't possibly get the deep meaning of a James Joyce novel or care as much about the world and its issues or get those pasta noodles to the same firm, but flexible consistency.

In short we're blinded by our false sense of superiority.

Sometimes we also get complacent. There's nothing wrong with being happy and proud with what you've done and standing back and admiring you're effort. There is something very wrong, however, with doing something well and then thinking that you're finished improving yourself and the world. Continuously improving yourself and those around you is the only way to make this world a better place.

If we fail to keep these things in mind and fall into the traps of over confidence and laziness you could end up the way I did in that race all those years ago and at times since; passed by those who are working harder and helping others more.

You can be great. Scratch that, you're already great, but keep going, keep running the race the best you can, pushing youself and those around you every day and one day you might just become the greatest ever. And remember, don't ever judge a runner by their garbage bag.