Don't let the bad guys win

As many of you, I learned the sad news about Beth's cousin Sherry last Friday. Devastating. I'm wishing and sending Sherry's loved ones strength and love in these most difficult of times.

The news made me sad. Deeply.

The news also made me angry. Angry that there are bad guys out there that claim to have the right to take a person's life. A person's freedom. And actually believe they can get away with that.

I learned the news the day before Paula and I had scheduled a road trip to the Belgian Ardennes. Holland is flat, and we really really wanted to run some hills. Wanted to slide down some muddy down hills. Wanted to splash through some streams. We'd planned an early morning road trip - to a remote area of the Ardennes. And yes, the night before I did find myself thinking 'What if something happens to us? What if there's some sort of weirdo hiding in the bushes? It's just the two of us out there. We'd be an easy target.'.

We went anyway. Looked out for ourselves. We tried (well...luckily for me Paula has some navigating skills...) to stick with marked hiking routes to run on. And we did run into some hikers, so there were people out there. I texted home when we arrived at the Ardennes and headed out for the run. And texted when we'd returned to the car. We finished the run covered in muddy muddy and with huge goofy smiles stuck on our faces. Those are our trails. We'd claimed our right to run through those bushes dressed in a skirt and laughing our butts off. We didn't let the bad guys win. We went out there anyway. Sherry, this one's for you.

I'd also like to quote my running buddy Wendy on this one: "... I refuse to allow fear to hold me back from doing what I enjoy.". She's right.

Look out for yourself. And don't let the bad guys stop you.

* To end this post on a more light-hearted note - Freddy Mercury said it right - 'Don't stop me now, I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball'.