Iowa Specialty Hospital

Notes from Steve

May 9, 2022

I have a loft in Des Moines.  There is this annual party (because of Covid, it hasn’t happened for 3 years).  It’s called The Party to the Top, and every floor of this five story building has one or two lofts open so the curious can snoop.  I opened mine up and had cool music and cheese.  (I was mortified after because I saw people going into closets in other’s lofts, and my closet is where I threw everything that I didn’t want people to see.)  My loft is like a slum compared to the others.  It’s like the duct tape prom dress next to a designer original.  Sigh.  

I was fine though because it was me (the vibe is man cave -- I had candles that smelled like tobacco and leather).  And the music was spot on and … well, I’m happy with it, and I guess that’s what matters.  

I used to run a lot.  I would enter 5Ks and 10Ks mostly because I wanted the t-shirt, but invariably I would end towards the back of the runners.* But I was happy because I was not running in competition with anyone else but myself.  I wanted to get better than I was the week before.  

We can always compare.  And we can always find others doing better than us.  And we can get depressed and stop what we are doing because we are not number one.  Or we can continue and improve a little bit every day.  It’s not always about being the best, sometimes it’s about trying to be better than we were and if you are the best, you’ll be better.  And if you are at the back of the race, next time maybe you finish a little bit faster or not -- maybe that’s good for you and that’s cool, most people aren’t running a 5K and you are, so there you go.

*our resident runner Phil just ran the Lincoln half marathon and that was one I ran back in 2000.  I remember they were taking down the water and Gatorade stations as I was running/plodding by and I remember telling them I was the one who really needed it so maybe next year stay open a bit longer …


 

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