Seis de Mayo

     The Cinco de Mayo is over and the sixth of May is here.  Things are normal, as normal as they can be in the springtime at an outfitters after organizing a run that is.  I am happy to be busy with the every day list of things to do.  As long as we are not out fighting a forest fire then things are good.

     Yesterday was the 1st Anniversary of the Ham Lake Fire.  It was a day I couldn’t shake out of my head.  Anxiety and fear are words to describe how I felt about that day whenever I thought about it after the fire started.  Similar to D-day for some or like Mother’s Day and May 16th(my mom’s birthday) since she has passed away.  They are days I dread and am so thankful they have passed when they finally do. 

     It isn’t healthy to have that much negative energy towards a particular day.  I started thinking about ways to combat that feeling and others started thinking along those general lines but probably not for the same reasons.  I needed something to focus on to keep my mind occupied and hence, the Ham Run Half Marathon and 5k Fun Run were born.  The Ham Run allowed me to channel my energy in a different direction and for that I am very grateful. 

     I guess you could say the Ham Run consumed me similar to how the Ham Lake Fire did without me even realizing it until the day of the race.  As I was filling coolers with water at 4:30AM on Sunday morning I thought to myself, "What in the world am I doing?"  I had been obsessing over the race for months and my stress level was soaring from trying to squeeze the last drops of energy out of my already depleted stores.  Then it hit me.  I was doing all of this so I didn’t have to think about the Ham Lake Fire.  The things people do.

     Well, I guess it worked.  Yesterday I had to drive to Duluth for an appointment and run errands.  It wasn’t until I sat down to dinner at a restaurant and they served nachos that I realized it was the 5th of May, Cinco de Mayo.  The First Anniversary of the Ham Lake Fire.  I guess my therapy worked.