Always Stop to Watch the Deer

There are not many places I have run that are more beautiful than along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa. With its scenic views and runner friendly paths it makes you feel free even in one of Canada's biggest cities. Add in the fact that it is a world heritage site and the only cooler feeling you can get is to skate on the Canal itself. If you can get over the horrible smell of months old sewage and what I can only hope is algae, then the Canal can be an interesting and refreshing place to run.

One spring day, a year and a half ago, my girlfriend, Kelsey, and I decided to throw off the shackels of a long and arduous Ottawa winter by running along the Canal and enjoying one of the nicest days of the year. We set a goal and started out at a quick pace.

About ten minutes into our run I spotted movement on the other side of the Canal and suddenly a baby deer wondered out of a group of trees. I pointed it out to Kelsey and we stopped to watch it. We stood there panting and sweating and admiring the deer who was staring (I like to think admiring as well) at us. For me, somewhat of a city boy all my life, seeing a deer so close in the middle of a city was pretty amazing and just one more thing that added to the magic of the Canal.

Now I've run many routes in many cities in my life, but this run sticks out because I stopped to watch the deer and because Kelsey was there to watch it with me.

I think life works a lot like that one run as well.

In this day and age, probably more than any other (although I can't vouch for this cause I've only been alive for 20 years) ambition and action are prized over almost everything. People work more than ever before. From the day we are born we are bombarded with strategies and programs that are supposed to make us smarter or stronger. The rush for the top starts early and never seems to stop (although when I beat the last level of Space Invaders at the age of nine I thought I had finally arrived on top).

Now there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be the best there is at anything (except a Senators fan) and doing anything you can (legally) to achieve it. However, i think there is a problem with letting this ambition blind you from seeing other valuable things in life.

If on that run that day on the Canal I had not stopped to watch the deer because doing so would have disrupted my training schedule then I probably would have not very much of a memory of that run. If Kelsey wasn't there with me as well then I would never have remembered it at all. The run would have been lost amongst all my other training runs.

Similarly, in life we can chose focus soley on getting that new promotion at work or getting straight A's in school or becoming the hot dog eating champion of the world and disregard some of the smaller, but beautiful things life has to offer. Achieving your goals takes sacrifice, but once you reach the top it also doesn't feel very good if you can't remember the jouney or didn't participate in any fun school events or didn't really savour the taste of a good hot dog.

So on your way to becoming the greatest (which you will be) stop and look a round once in a while and discover the little, but immensely beautiful, things around you, like the rising sun, the singing bird or the calm lake. And also look at who you're sharing these things with, your friends, family, significant other or colleagues, because they make it a million times more special. And if you ever cross paths with a deer, always stop to watch it.