The two trails merged and two runners were slightly ahead of me. They weren’t just running, they were having a conversation. I have no idea of knowing this, but it appeared as if though they were on a date.
There wasn’t enough space between us. It was awkward. Me and my three huskies running right behind them. I was close enough that they may have thought I was trying to eavesdrop. Maybe they thought I was trying to join them. Did I mention it was awkward?
The problem was they were running at my pace. I didn’t want to slow down. We were already a few minutes slower than race pace. I didn’t want to speed up, I still had a few more miles to go and needed to save energy. After a few moments of awkwardness I decided to burn the energy and get ahead of them. I would get past them with a decent distance between us and then slow down to a normal pace.
My pack and I managed to get around them and make it through a few turns on the trail. We slowed down to my normal running pace and we were good to go. The plan worked brilliantly!
It was at that moment that one of my dogs decided that he need to do his business. No, not on the side of the trail. He needed to relieve himself right in the middle of the trail. I waited for him to finish, pulled out a dog waste bag, and cleaned up the mess.
The couple I worked so hard to get by passed me at the exact moment I bent down to pick up my dog’s poop.
Did I mention it was awkward?
The worst part about running with dogs is having to pick up after them. If there are garbage cans around it isn’t too bad. However, there are times where you could be carrying around dog poop for a mile or more. The weird part about this is that it has become normal for me. Think about that last sentence for a moment. Carrying around a bag full of poop has become normal for me.
As awkward as that is we all do it. It might not be dog poop, but we all carry around garbage. It could be from something that has happened to us, from something that we did, or something that we are trying to overcome in our current circumstances. Yes, we all have garbage we are carrying around.
And after while the garbage that we have been carrying around feels normal. We don’t even seem to notice it any more. The problem is that if we don’t deal with our garbage we continue to hurt ourselves and hurt the people around us.
So, what garbage do you need to throw away?
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8–9, ESV)