A Monty Python Moment

It's getting close to the marathon date now--only 2 weeks away.  Back in January, when I started training, it seemed so far away.  It's funny how we can have such warped perspectives of time--distant, close, all confused into one jumble.  I thought of that yesterday while walking the final 2 miles home from the church.

I like to walk Atchison Road; it has nice sidewalks on both sides.  It's a straight shot, and there's not a ton of traffic.  Pretty homes line either side, and I cross over a few bridges, getting to look down into shady creeks.  This time of year is especially pretty, with crabapples in full bloom, their subtle, sweet fragrance blowing on the wind.  The redbuds are blooming, too.  Yesterday, with the bright blue sky and the small, puffy white clouds, things were so beautiful as to almost make your heart burst.

But those last 2 miles were killing me.  Whether it's because I haven't been training like I should, I'm getting old, or I didn't stretch, my heel and ankle were in a lot of pain.  So I'm walking up Atchison, and I can see the stoplight at Spring Valley far in the distance.  "Oh good," I think.

And I go back to looking at the trees, the sky, the ground, the dead robin by the side of the sidewalk.  My music is on, and it's something good, like Major Tom (the techno dance version).  More good music follows.  Probably 5 or 10 minutes go by before I look all the way up the road again.

What the...?  The stoplights don't seem any closer.  Seriously?  I've been walking for quite a while now; they should look closer.  Ugh.

Nose back to the grindstone.  Another few songs go by, another 5 minutes or so.  I look up.  They are NOT any closer.  Grumble, grumble, mutter, mutter...

But then I start to laugh, because it reminds me of this scene from Holy Grail (starting at about 0:41, going to 1:16):

And, you know, life is like that.  You're working toward a goal; it seems so distant and doesn't seem to get any closer, and then BAM!  There it is, like it or not.  

(I love that the other guard--the one who looks like Conan O'Brien--just kind of goes, "Heeeeey..."  That IS me!)

So, yeah, I looked up during my walk, and there were the stoplights--finally!  Almost home!