So much has changed in 3 years for me

I've been wondering why I've been reminiscing so much lately and then I realized that it's been exactly 3 years since my life changed so dramatically.

In 2005 my wife and I decided to separate. There are certain life changing moments that happen in a person's life and this was certainly one of them. We both were unhappy and living more as roommates than anything else. Although neither of us were surprised by our decision, it was still a shock nonetheless.

This was followed by yet another life changer. I decided that the job that I was doing (addiction counselor) was not where I needed to be. It was a very depressing job and isolating at the same time which didn't help. I knew that I needed to get out of that environment as quickly as possible.

Some people say that things happen in "3's" so of course the final piece to my puzzle soon followed. After my separation I met someone who literally changed my life. She introduced me to running and eventually trail running. I will never forget the feeling I had after I returned from running in the trails. I felt like I could walk on water and suddenly my life had clarity. I had never run before in my life, other than when playing sports, and I was surprised at how well I was able to adapt to this sport.

Running wasn't just about a physical activity as I soon found out. I met some incredible people and started to build more of a social network of friends. I used to hibernate myself after coming home from work but now I had more friends than I knew what to do with. All of this was overwhelming at times but it also seemed to fit with what I needed. I found several people who were also recently separated and this gave me an outlet to talk about my feelings with people who were going through the same things that I was.

It's three years later and not only am I still running but suddenly people are asking me to teach them how to run. I'm not only surprised by this I'm flattered at the same time. I know that if I can learn to run then anyone can as I was one of those people who used to hate running and never really understood why people ran in the first place.

Sometimes I think that I've taken on more than I'm capable of with regards to my upcoming race. I'm still very much a novice when it comes to running. Then I remember WHY I run in the trails in the first place. It's because I love the feeling of running in nature. Breathing is so much easier when you are away from cars. I can relax and just enjoy the scenery around me, hopefully see a deer or two. As long as I continue to reinforce these values, I know that I'll be fine for my race.

I wonder what the next 3 years will be like?