It's amazing where life lessons come from. Especially those lessons that come from where you least expect them... such as a garage door. Honestly, what life lessons could you possibly learn from a garage door? Most lessons a garage door teach you are common sense, for example: 1. Open the garage door before trying to drive in or out. Or 2. Don't lie underneath a closing garage door without a safety sensor because you will be crushed. So, what could I possibly learn from my garage door that would help me in my 100 miler training?
My first garage in Minnesota did not have an automatic door opener. Worst decision ever. Who in their right mind would want to get out of their car to open or close the garage door when it's -50 out? Granted, I didn't have a choice as all the garage's at my apartment complex are manual unless you decide to add an automatic door opener yourself. Lucky me, someone decided to move out and I snagged their garage which was closer to my apartment building AND had an automatic door opener. Woop woop, talk about awesome, I was planning on fist pumping for a week until I realized I needed to move all my belongings from one garage to the next (about 50 yards so not far, but rather an awkward distance... do you walk your stuff over? Do you drive your stuff over?). The killer is... it was January... in Minnesota... so it was bitterly cold. Another character building moment.
Now, a year later, my hands are finally warmed up and I don't have to get in and out of my car every morning and evening to manually open or close my garage. Instead, I find myself sitting in my car in the parking lot or standing right inside the building watching my garage door go rogue. When it's in the minus degrees prior to windchill my garage door has a mind of its own. I will press the button for it to close and it obeys. Then when it hits the concrete floor, it opens again. I close it again. It opens again. I stop it halfway up, then close it. It opens. I wait for it to completely open then close it. It still opens. I try using my Prius button to close the door. It opens. I use my in-hand clicker to close the door. It opens. I get out of my car and press the button on the inside of my garage door, WHICH DEFEATS THE PURPOSE OF HAVING AN AUTOMATIC GARAGE DOOR, and it still opens. I literally look as thought I have obsessive compulsive disorder and have to open and close my garage seven times every morning before I go to work and every evening before I return to my apartment. Then finally, after whatever reason, my garage door stays closed. For a while, I figured its just rebelling against the brutal Minnesota winter and putting in a request to be moved to Florida, but still, come on garage door, just be normal and let me get on with my life.
However, after tapping into my emotional intelligence and really thinking about the situation, I have realized that my garage door isn't actually going rogue. Instead, it's taking care of me. My garage door cares about my well-being. It knows I'm running a 100 miler. It knows I hate running on treadmills. It knows I'm a meathead. And with this knowledge, it's teaching me a life lesson.
So, what is the life lesson, you ask? When it takes 7 times to close my garage door, it's too cold to run outside.
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