Step 3: Running

Good morning Ender.

It is 4:20AM now. I woke up. I set up my alarm to 5AM but I woke up now.

I slept well. I feel very well rested. I am going to shower to warm up my muscles, stretch in the living room and go out for a run. Your grandparents live about 5 kilometres away. I am going to run there and back.

There is this neat app for the iPhone that tracks your runs. I am going to post a screenshot here.

Let me tell you two things about where we live right now.

1- We are one block away from The Kingsway. Houses there range from $1 million dollars to $5 million dollars. There is one under renovation now that I think is worth more than that.

2- I am not going to be the only one running out there. That is right. It is six degrees Celsius. There is 50% of rain at 5AM and I guarantee I am not going to be the only one running out there.

I also guarantee that the other runners I see are not going to be out of shape. They are going to be running past me… they are ahead of me. I want you to stop and think about that.

Back when I started going to practice basketball at 5AM, I was the only kid there. Eddie Murphy, the night guard, used to let me in with a big smile on his face. He could hear me approach bouncing my basketball on the street. On the second month, another kid from my team showed up early in the morning. He found out from Eddie that I was coming in early and he was mustering the strength to join me.

Everybody called this kid “Skywalker”. That was his nickname. He played point guard. I played point guard. He brought his own basketball. He played on the other side of the court. He could have played in our other gym on the other side of the school if he wanted to… but he didn’t. It is actually distracting to hear another basketball bouncing at 5 in the morning. I could have moved to the other gym, but I didn’t.

There is a lesson to be learned there. If you want to be successful you need to be around successful people. You need to find like-minded people. They will keep you on track They are going to motivate you.

This entire “project” is dedicated to you, Ender. However, today’s run I dedicate to a complete stranger. Someone I have never met but inspired me to get out of bed today: My first follower.

I must go now. I need to make it home back in time for breakfast with your mom.