Life Review: Mixing Emotion with Running

 I marvel at how the different aspects of human wellness overlap. Here is true story that illustrates this.

In about 1975 or 76, we were stationed at Patuxent River Naval Air Station with VQ-4, a US-Ballistic-Missile-Submarine communications squadron. Most days, MCPOC (highest enlisted rank) Roger B and I would meet promptly at noon and run a 10-mile loop around the Air Station. One day I was coming back from a mission with my air crew and we landed at Pax.

One of the Maintenance Officers, Lt. Lance S. met me between the aircraft and the hangar. He chewed me out about something with the aircraft. I was his equal in rank, though he was older and more experienced. But, this time he was wrong. It must have been about 1140 AM when this happened, because I didn't have time to even discuss the situation or defend myself, because I had to meet my friend Roger at noon.

I hurried to the gym and quickly changed clothes, whilst fuming with anger. I told Roger what had happened and neither of us said much. I spent about the first 2-3 miles thinking of exactly HOW I was gonna tell off that jerk, Lance. The next couple of miles, I toned down my upcoming speech to a more reasonable level. The next couple of miles, I toned it down more, and by the time I got back to the shower, I had made the very wise decision to say nothing to the LT. After all, I knew he was wrong, and it really didn't matter all that much.

I was telling an interviewer about this recently. The key lesson for me, in retrospect, was the way that the elements of wellness inter-played. A quick reminder, 4 key elements of wellness are: Relational, Emotional/mental, Physical, and Spiritual.

Running 10 miles is definitely Physical. It obviously had a calming, correcting effect on me Emotionally, and it sure helped my relationship wit Lt. S., and with Roger, and with myself. And there is the spiritual component of "a soft answer turns away wrath..." (Prov 15:1), plus the "be angry and sin not for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of G^d." (James 1:19-20) 

So the next time you decide to "tell someone off" try running 10 miles and then see how you feel!