There but for the grace of the dude go I

So much of life is just really freaking random. Why does a bad thing happen to one person and not another, even though both are in the same place at the same time?

Saturday morning I went running at Mendon Ponds Park with the Trails ROC-stars. We ran one loop then regrouped in the parking lot before heading out again. Unfortunately, some jerkfaces happened to be out on in the park that morning too because 2 of the cars had been broken into - windows smashed by rocks, purses and cell phones stolen, dashboards f*cked up. Totally not cool.

I can't understand why anyone would do that or why only 2 of the 10 or so cars were targeted. I'm infinitely thankful that mine wasn't one of them, but I feel so bad for those who were. It was a real downer to what should have been a stellar morning.

It could just as easily have been me. Or anyone. Random bad shit and random good shit happens all the time. For the most part, I think what you put out into the world, be it positive or negative, comes back to you. But sometimes bad things happen to good people and there is no sense in any of it.

Maybe the thieves were desperate people going through hard times. Maybe they were just punk kids getting up to no good. Hopefully they felt remorse and learned a lesson. Sadly, we all did. We learned not to leave any valuables locked in our cars, to be more vigilant and less trusting. Which is sad, because most people are awesome and I want to believe that everyone is.

For me, it's a reminder to be conscious of the energy I'm putting out into the universe, to try and always act with kindness and compassion. I only want to be an agent of awesomeness. I don't ever want to be the cause of any bad stuff happening to anyone.

After 13 miles on challenging trails on a beautiful summer morning, all you should come back to is the ache of awesomeness in your legs and a trunkful of delicious snacks, not broken glass and the aftermath of someone else's stupid decisions. The vast majority of the time, it's all snacks and awesome sauce. It's only the rare occasions where random bad shit goes down. So I guess all you can do is focus on the good and let go of the bad and run on.

Lyric of the moment: "Everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your time piece, jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash. We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair. And we'll never be royals. It don't run in our blood, that kind of lux just ain't for us. We crave a different kind of buzz..."