The Blue Pill

So some of you may not know my rather tech geek side. Others know it well. I'm a big fan of the Matrix trilogy and other science fiction movies (or are they just telling the future). So I'm about to go all geek for a second.

In the movie the Matrix, Neo is offered a choice of a blue or red pill. The blue pill is accepting the way things are and traveling down the same path without questioning it. The red pill in the movie is an offering of the truth. It represents taking a chance and stepping outside of the normality of life. I find that many times with schedules of work, travel, children's activities, etc life becomes robotic. I find myself checking my calender to see who needs to be driven where, and when my wife is working, or where I am traveling next and some times I just seem to shut down and go on autopilot. You realize this when you are driving down the street and your 4 year old and they point out a rainbow just to the left of the car. How is it that the notice so much while we miss it all? I think over time you get so used to the same routine that you start to shut out what is around you.

I find that running for me is like taking the red pill. It puts me in a setting in which I have total recognition of everything that is occurring both inside and around me. You begin to feel every muscle while at the same time being acutely aware of your surroundings. This is amplified when running on trials due to the need to avoid obstacles which may arise. I find that lately I have been worried to much about the past and as a result I've been trying to follow a path which requires half a blue pill and half a red one. By doing this I don't know if I will every truly make it to the truth but I still have the security and comfort offered by the known. Well here goes the big one. I choose the red pill... Time to go sign up for the blue line. Under trained, unprepared, but very experienced. Time to accept the change and finish what was started.