Day 11: It's in the Journey...

The title of this blog happens to be the start of a set of lyrics I truly cherish by singer/songwriter Martin Sexton from his song "In the Journey".  When I first realized I was actually going to attempt this cross-country run, a lot of thoughts went through my crazy head. I thought "what if I can't do it. What if I get out there, and I realize its too hard. Or what if I get hurt". Lots of pros and cons weighed heavy on me as I was training for this run. But, no matter how many concrete thoughts I had, I kept going back to this song, and these lyrics:

It's in the journey that we see there's no destination
It's in the journey that we're gonna find our true love
It's in the journey when I'm gonna see that I can do it alone, can do it alone
I gotta dig deep down inside and hold on, hold on for the ride.

This song came on today about midway through the first 12 miles, and it set me right back to where I needed to be mentally. I've been nursing a bit of a foot cramp for the better part of the first 9 days of running, and those thoughts of failure or success have passed through my head pretty regularly. But when I heard that song again, I was quickly reminded that it is not so much important if I finish this run, which I will, or if I raise hundreds of thousands of dollars, which I badly hope to. The success of this idea, this journey, is already happening. It's happening with every dollar I do raise. It's happening with each step I take towards Spencer. It's happening with every soldier I am fortunate enough to meet and share stories with on the road. It's happening with every waitress, gas station employee, hotel desk worker, and random person who I am able to share this story with. And it is certainly happening by the noticable changes physically, and mentally that I see almost daily in myself. I said in an interview with the Long Beach Press Telegram that before this run I used to wonder, if I died tomorrow, did I make even an imprint on this earth, did I have a positive impact during my time here. I believe emphatically that with every message I recieve from you all, with every well wish, every "good luck Drew, we're all pulling for you", that this question has been firmly answered in my mind, and I am very much at peace with that. One of my favorite movies of all time is "It's a Wonderful Life", and if you have not seen it yet, I beg of you to search it out and watch it. A great line in it says something like, "Each man's life touches so many others that he has no idea the effect he has on others". I hope to be making a positive impact on each and every one of your lives with this journey. I know that you all have had such a wonderful impact on my well being, and I thank you all for sharing in this with me.
As for the run today, all I can say is, it's guuuuuuuud. Later.