The IF in Life by Rashad Jennings

Author:Rashad Jennings
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2018-04-10T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

THE BIG RUN

Because I was so young when my brothers left for college, I missed having the experience of sharing a home with them for any length of time. Yeah, I annoyed them like little brothers do, like when I butted in on Bryan’s relationship with Pam, but I didn’t have the opportunity to really know them. So knowing that I would be working with them at LCA, I felt like I would get an awesome opportunity to spend time with them.

Growing up, I was constantly living in the shadow of two brothers who’d not only gone to college, but had both played in the NFL. When I was still at Jefferson Forest, I couldn’t walk down the hall without being reminded of the awards Bryan had won and records he’d broken in football, basketball, and track. Whenever I would point to the trophy case and brag—“That’s my brother!”—I would either get the side-eye or someone would come right out and remind me of my lack of athletic achievement. “So what happened to you?” they’d ask. Once I transferred to LCA, not only did I have a chance to forge my own path, but I got to do it with my brothers by my side.

Even though my brothers expected me to do my best at whatever I tried, they’d never pressured me to play football and never assumed my path would look just like theirs. When I was given the opportunity to play for them, I wanted to prove to them that I was serious about making the changes I needed to make for my future.

I wanted to make them proud.

Going the Distance

One Saturday morning, Mom was out at the grocery store and Dad was in his bedroom smoking. I was suited up in my running clothes. I wore a T-shirt with cutoff sleeves, my blue basketball shorts, and a pair of running shoes. Strapping my MP3 player to my upper arm, I stepped out onto the front steps.

I jogged to the end of our driveway, and then took a left on Cimarron Road to head out of our neighborhood. Breaking Benjamins were on the playlist that would propel me through the longest run I had attempted to date. I hadn’t told anyone what I was up to, because talking about commitment is worth little, but demonstrating commitment is worth everything.

I jogged four miles in the direction of the YMCA, the route I ran every weekend, but the Y wasn’t my destination. Butch and his family were living in Lynchburg, and I’d made up my mind that I’d run to see him that morning.

It was 12.6 miles from my house.

Instead of turning down Enterprise Drive, toward the YMCA, I headed to Lynchburg, sweat pouring off my forehead. When I reached what I estimated to be the halfway point, the skies opened up and it began to rain. Though breathing was difficult, I was a lot healthier since I’d been working out regularly. And the rain felt great. On the second half of the run, my skin began to chafe from the damp clothing, but I kept going.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.