{Nostalgia} Capable of the World

Balloons, candles, all things blue and orange. It was my teammate and best friend's birthday--and it was a big race. Little trinkets to celebrate. Scripture mastery showdowns. I remember.

I had potential to do well that day. I had the drive. I had nothing to fear, I knew nothing but hope. The world was still new.

I remember the dew on the pristine golf course lawn. I remember the tension, the excitement in the air. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to throw up. I just wanted to run.

I was running the frosh race. We started our warm up late and couldn't get a cheer in before the start, so we did it in the first straightaway. The gun shot off, and so did we:

Where do we come from? We come from T-I-M-P-V-I-E-W, orange white and blue!

We settled into the stillness of footsteps and heartbeats. The top 20 of each race got an award, and I was going to get one of those--I had decided. I ran hard. Step by step, I was keeping with the top girls. I ran past the spectators, I ran around the cones. Step by step, I was behind the rabbit--a golf cart. And I was tired. Somewhere in that middle mile, I lost the pack. I fought to close the gap. My lungs ached for air, my legs begged for rest, and still my heart longed to keep pace.

I crossed the finish line. Relief not quite as sweet as I had imagined for the past 23-something minutes. Clinging to the flimsy flags of the chute, I knew that I had run harder than ever before. Waiting for the lightheadedness and nausea to pass, I knew I had finished a few places behind 20.

But I had set a goal, I had gone after it with my whole heart. I later learned how to run even harder, even faster. This was the wake up moment. This was the time I first knew to push past pain for something more lasting. This was my first race.

----------------------------------

In other news, there are exactly enough talks from General Conference to take one every week until the next session in October. I hereby declare the beginnings of Conference Weekly--a more directed attempt to bring the words of the prophets into my life.

View President Boyd K. Packer's address here.