Non-Traditional Job

I have never had what I would consider a traditional job. I have worked virtually all my life, but never have had a normal job. My first source of income came at age 10 when I would pick green beans at Glenn Vites Farm. Eventually I got old enough to be promoted to a sweetcorn picker. Every summer for years I would venture down to Vites to work in the fields. We would work rain or shine, with only Sundays off. Other income adventures I have wandered through include: owning and operating a lawn mowing business, at my peak I was managing 27 different yards. In college I would do as many jobs as possible. Actually going to class and embracing the college experience often took a backseat to working. During the four years it took to earn my degree I spent 3 1/2 of those years working at 8th Street Mennonite Preschool, worked one year at a local high school, and another year I worked as a doughnut delivery man for a local bakery. The doughnut delivering gig was pretty neat. Employees were allowed to take home all the day-old doughnuts they wanted. You better believe that I took them, and promptly sold them to college students.

My Police Escort

Since graduating for college I have yet to have a traditional job. The first four years after graduation I farmed with my father and brother in Niles, Michigan. That was followed by a year of working on my father in laws dairy farm while he recovered from his farm accident. The last two years I have mainly focused on caring for my son Miles, running, and selling firewood. While these are quality jobs they are also not what I would consider traditional jobs. My idea of a traditional job would involve an office, a small window, and 8 hours to fulfill each day. This weekend when running the St Judes Memphis Marathon I entered the race thinking about those who have normal jobs.



My Chainsaw
 

Two weeks prior to the marathon I cut my leg while operating my large saw, a Stihl 650. The cut was not extremely bad, but forced me to take some time off. My fitness was suffering due to that, but if I had a normal office job I would not take a day off due to an achy leg or being a little out of shape. So with that in mind I decided I would treat my job of running marathons like I would treat an office job. I was going to work as well as I could without complaining. Likewise I also knew that I did not want to do anything extra special during my shift at work. I was not going to make any phone calls (surges) or initiate doing extra work (pushing for a fast time), instead my strategy to make it through the 26.2 miles of work was to conserve and preserve. I wanted to conserve energy but also preserve the win, do the work but nothing extra.

My Slow Time

The first 12 miles of the race I ran along side an African runner. We were in first and second place in the marathon. I let him set the pace. When I race like this I have a rule as to how long I stay with another competitor. Once he broke that rule I decided it was time to move on. I left him just prior to the half way marker. By mile 14 my lead had expanded to 64 seconds. I would get feedback every mile as to how much my lead was. I was comfortably cruising along for the next few miles, but then mile 17 came. I was alerted, "Your lead is 74 seconds, there is a new person in second place." That meant that someone behind me was making a hard surge. Turns out it was the defending champion. I had been doing the conserving of energy, it was now time to preserve the win.

My goal was to reach mile 20 with the same margin of lead. The second place runner was able to close on me to get the lead down to 69 seconds, but that was the closest he would get. At mile 20 I made a brief hard move. Two straight miles in the 5:30s pushed my lead to nearly 2 minutes. Doing some quick math I was basically certain I could hold on to the win. Once I reached mile 25 my lead was comfortable enough that I shifted back into conserve mode. It was not the greatest of days running, but I am not going to make excuses. Office workers still punch in the clock when they do not feel well. I am always grateful for the opportunity to travel and run marathons. Winning marathons is my job, and touching lives through my vocation is an added bonus. After the marathon I was privileged to meet a young boy named Caleb. I promptly gave him my race bib and finishers medal. He was super excited, which further emphasis to me that I made the right choice by working this weekend.

My New Friend Caleb