HONK! A "different" musical

As a youth pastor, I get to catch all manner of performances.  For some of you this makes youth ministry sound better... "I get to see live performances?!", others see it as further proof for why they don't hang out with teenagers... "I'd have to see live performances!"  I love it, partially because it let's me do two things I adore: become more rounded AND encourage the next generation in their passion!

In light of, or perhaps because of, the above, I was able to see Parkview Highschool's performance of Honk!  The musical is an extended look at the tail (sic) of the ugly duckling.  The teens and supporting adults did a great job with the show and you could tell they enjoyed themselves (it's a lot less pleasing when they don't!).  A quick side-note and special thank you is in order for Aaron Stevens, Amanda Creech, Breanne Case, and Spencer Stevens (first name alphabetically organized) performing so admirably and introducing me to the show.  You guys are much better centers of attention than I.  Thanks for the invites and reminders.

Back to HONK!
A song of note is "Different".  It focuses on how even before the ugly duckling/swan hatches, it isn't like the others.  From there, it reprises post-egg and the word captures the little fowl well.  Standing out, something the baby swan can't avoid thanks to drastically different costume, appearance, and vocal capabilities, causes the creature no end of harassment from the other farm animals.  There are a few moments where even the mama duck isn't sure what to do with the odd product of her nest.  The ones who are most willing to offer the outcast a kind ear are the most ugly, the frogs, and the most beautiful, the swans.

The commentary provided by the musical has bounced around and gathered an odd collection of ideas.  Near the top is how scary it is to be different when we all seek acceptance.  This is most evident in teenage years.  Teens will sacrifice the wisdom of parents, and even their own pre-made decisions to experience acceptance (think any bad idea brought about by peer pressure).  Adults aren't immune, though, consider how many of us keep up with the Jones.

How do you reconcile the fear of rejection with the desire to be an individual?  It's akin to how we'll order a diet coke with our triple bacon cheeseburger.  Or more painfully, how we say we love them and stab them in the back.  We are broken, inconsistent, and fragmented.  We long to be told we're okay and welcome, but then we balk at being pigeon-holed.

The musical addresses this in saying that we choose to embrace our difference from others but still choose them (perhaps why the swans and frogs are most willing to be with the ugly duckling, they know themselves and are true to who they are).  If we learn to accept ourselves first, we get further down the road.  This falls on the heels of the transformation of ugly duckling into beautiful swan, which makes it an easier acceptance for all.  This is the joy of the stage.

One of these things is not like the others... and that's good!

The burden of reality isn't always as easy.

Sometimes we don't become swans and we don't see others' transformation.  There are times when the ugly duckling remains a different creature.  The day doesn't always end as well as a 3 hour play, BUT this enforces the worth of self-acceptance.  You are, as I am, rather wonderful, carefully crafted, and masterfully added to the world by a Creator who knows what he's doing with his creatures.

I brought home a report card full of C's once.  Mama had a few words for me about doing better.  I tried to explain, with what my 8 year old brain considered to be good logic, that C was average and therefore not bad.  Mama looked me in the eye, and said, "You shouldn't look to be average." I had been given permission to be abnormal, ill-fitting, unusual, above-, around-, and far from normal!  I think I've succeed well in that, sometimes to Mama's frustration.

You might not need anything else, you might need a million other things, but here is your formal invitation and expressed permission:
Be different, be okay with it, and accept us for being different too... you beautiful swan, you.

Motivation

Yesterday it happened.  A buzz on my phone, a quick check of the text's content, and WHAM-O!  I'm looking at which marathon I should do next.  All it took was my buddy saying he had started training for his first and, like a mother who's struck with baby fever, I forget about all the crud I endured last time and start looking forward to the finish line!

For those of you who have never run a marathon, are considering one for the first time, or would refuse to consider running one... I recently wore your shoes (sounds like a lot of shoes, right?!).  As of April 2009, I hadn't run further than from the sofa to the fridge, and that was to make it there and back in the commercial break!  I had run a little in college just to be able to maintain a healthy appearance for the ladies, many would argue that it didn't work.  But competitive running had no appeal to me, I saw nothing great about heading any amount of distance.

Enter one silly movie, two friends who trained with me, and a lot of help.  That's how I started planning how I would take on my first 26.2 miles near Orlando, FL with the Disney Marathon 01/10/10.  Simply put: it was great, horrible, inspiring, grueling, and if all else fails cold!  The race started early and with the thermometers reading 26 degrees (see photo).

Random fun running fact: the colder it is, the less your body has to fight heating up, thus giving your body more energy to take care of other things.  Like moving your legs.

Equally random fun Ryan fact: I picked a race in Florida, in January, thinking it wouldn't be too bad weather-wise. This is why I don't advocate strongly for advanced planning.

The race was technically my second race.  My first was a local 5k put on by a nearby high school to raise funds for their wrestling and baseball team (how those two ended up going in on the race I'll never understand!).  I finished right at 24 minutes.  For perspective, a 5k translates loosely into 3.1 miles, which is between a 1/8 and a 1/9 of the distance of a marathon.

I followed the prescribed advice of Runner's World magazine's SmartCoach training.  To make use of this easy and free tool go to runnersworld.com, select training at the navigation bar near the top of the page, click on the little gray box with green letters spelling SmartCoach.  A head's up: they want your email address and little else, I haven't been plagued with spam, I doubt you will.  In following the schedule I made a 4:20 (4 hours, 20 minutes) time!  In doing so, I finished the race (a goal in itself!) ahead of my predicted time of 4:30, but didn't hit my dream time of 4 flat.

So why go again?  Simple, when I know I can do better, I want to.  Next question: why do I think I can do better?

In September I took on a 1/2 marathon in Asheville, NC.  A slight misread (and brain malfunction) had me expecting a MUCH easier course than what I encountered.  I had a goal in mind of 1:40.  I finished 1:55.  The extra 15 minutes on those hills (small mountains it seemed) was a price I both felt and feel is fair.  With the 1/2 marathon time in place, I went to look at the free (noticing a trend here for the tools I like?) running calculator found at mcmillianrunning.com I'm projected a 3:48-3:52 finish.  There's that sub-4 hour race time again.

I'm fully aware that it's the time of year again where everyone else is thinking about presents, shopping, traveling, and the Great One in a manger.  I've shared some thoughts on that in a previous post (here), but let me throw yet another thought on the pile: what if you started thinking now about your resolution for improvement now.  This would be a gift you'd give the rest of the world that might very well take a full year to be fully wrapped and delivered.  You could be selfless: run to improve your health so others get to enjoy you longer.  If it fits you better, you could be selfish: run to improve your health so you get to annoy others longer.  Just saying, there are worse things.

Whatever your motivation, start considering now what goals you'd like to have in place to make your life and others' lives more wonderful.  What would you like to do that seems impossible this year?  If you need a source of real inspiration you could always try one of my favorites: here.

Keep up with me and keep me updated on you.  Feel free to ask questions, post advice, and log your victories alongside my own.  I can't promise accountability, but I will celebrate your joys and weep with you in the tough times.

Merry Christmas and happy running!