This rings true every day...

I found this online and wish that I could follow it daily, it seems easy enough, so why is it so hard to follow? This is part a commencement speech from Steve Jobs of Apple at Stanford University.

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

I always liked this, but it never hit home until my grandfather (who was more like a father to me really) passed away on December 13th. I had never experienced death to someone I loved before this, I guess I was lucky-depends on how you see it-but it has been an eye opener and made me realize that I will not be here forever. I miss him daily and wish that I spent more time with him, but know that we had many awesome adventures and times together in Sedona.

I really need to start living every day to the fullest, which while being so very, very simple is also so very hard. Most of us have jobs, family, outside influences that pull us away from what we really want to be doing. But in the long run, we are already naked, what do we have to loose?

This can be applied to running at so many different levels. If you desire to run a half or full marathon because it is something you have always wanted to do, what is stopping you? An internal fear? You want to shatter your personal best at a certain distance, but you keep hearing how it is out of your range...don't listen. Are others telling you (to your face or behind your back) that you can't do it? You need to do what your mind and body wants to do, and so do I.