I made plans for a run tomorrow morning. A long run. An epic run next to the railway line and then down a small river valley. Had my shoes and water belt and GPS ready and hit my pillow with sweet expectations. Dozed off in the blissful cool of our highly efficient new split A/C.
And then the telephone rang around 11PM. This is the time most crises happen in the software industry. On a Friday night just after you’ve fallen asleep. Because somehow Uncle Murphy’s law still has a say in these matters. It states: “If something can go wrong, it will … at 11PM on a Friday night.”
Seriously I remember countless Friday nights frantically trying to wake up developers or get them to abandon their movies, drive home and check their code. It is worse if it is someone else’s code they have to check, like tonight. But yeah, the guests are suddenly being charged for 11 weeks worth of internet. Just imagine having to stay for 11 weeks in the hotel just so that you do not lose out using the internet that you already paid $800 for… Horrific. We have to save them!
So I while away the time waiting for one of our awesome team leads to check some code that he hasn’t touched for months after I had someone go to his window and shout to get his attention after I tried enough to reach the developer whose phone is ringing without him hearing probably due to the A/C and after reaching the developer who answered, but is too far out of civilization to get to an internet connection. Crazy.
Just today I read an article about the awful things that could happen to you if you do not sleep enough. Sleep deprivation makes you slow (in the head and on the road), it can make you fat, it can give you diabetes. And worse than all of that, it could cause your willpower to weaken to below the “get-out-of-bed-when-the-alarm-clock-rings” level. That is tragic if you have an epic run planned for the next day. I remember having lectured someone – cannot remember who now, too tired – about the importance of sleep just a few days ago. Elite athletes, they say, need more sleep, nine or ten hours. This is so that their muscles can properly heal because getting stronger is that endless cycle of injuring your muscles ever so slightly and then healing up. No pain no gain.
But tonight there may not be a lot of sleep, because I will probably have to go to the office to keep my colleague company. India has become a more dangerous place and going into an office building all alone between 12 and 1 in the morning is not something my colleague might like to do. It is funny, though, that I almost never feel scared running in abandoned places, through open fields or even in forests. Maybe it is this illusion of strength that I have spoken about before. Or maybe it is the presence of my constant Running Companion. Or maybe it is my faith that there are better things waiting for those who follow Jesus. Since we will follow Him in life and then in death and in resurrection and eternal life in a better place.
I don’t think that Uncle Murphy will have a say there. I doubt it if we will have bugs and paid internet. We will certainly not have dangerous hours or sleepless nights and come to think of it we will not have painful long-run recoveries, diabetes, obesity or alarm clocks. Don’t take my word for it, but I am pretty sure there will still be running.
Keep doing it.
Stephan
Running with a Friend 