this is what it is all about…

there are a lot of nervous runners in union city tonight.
tossing and turning in unfamiliar beds.
.
but that is ok.
at least they are in beds!
.
more than most of them will be able to say this time tomorrow night.
for, in the morning, around 120 hopeful vol staters will run down the bank of the miss’ippi river at dorena landing missouri,
and board a ferry bound for hickman kentucky.
.
there, it will disgorge them into hell…
.
their goal?
a remote mountaintop in north georgia.
.
the one they call “the rock”
.
sure, there are some accomplished veterans in the field.
some very good athletes will contend for the “king of the road” title.
.
that is going to be fun to watch unfold.
but the real drama won’t be the race for the win.
half the field has never done anything like this before.
they are just regular folks,
like me and you,
with jobs and families
and a life that will soon seem so remote.
.
as the world’s problems will be replaced with real ones…
.
like;
what will i eat?
can i find anything to drink?
where will i sleep?
.
how will i find the strength to take another step?
.
and how is it possible for my feet to hurt this bad?
.
they seem like ordinary people,
but there is something different about these ones.
they have deliberately left the comfort zone behind…
,
left it so far away it is a distant memory,
waiting in their car 300 miles away in a beanfield
on top of a remote mountain
in north georgia.
.
if the all day drive from the finish to the start
was intimidating
what is coming will test every iota of their will.
the vol state is not a physical challenge,
it is a total challenge of wits and will,
the ability to endure
and pure mental fortitude.
.
there is so much more.
but that can wait for another update.
tonight is about these untested warriors
sleepless in the night before their first battle
.
they stand at the edge of a precipice
they can still walk away.
in a few hours they will have to make their choice.
call for a ride home
or leap into the unknown.
.
over the next 10 days i will have the privilege of watching them call upon that something extra
deep down inside
that we all have if we are willing to push ourselves beyond our limits.
.
to find it transforms you.
.
the athletes i greet at the rock
will not be the same ones i watched step off that ferry.
they will be changed forever.
.
this is what it is all about.