Another Milestone

This morning's 15.6 from my house to Maple Lake was the longest distance that I have run since May of 2000 (and many extra pounds). It also marks 2007 as the year when I run the most miles in my adult life. Up to 428 so far, eclipsing every other year since 1982--and probably every year of my life period. I certainly did not imagine that my 47th year would be the year that I would run more than any other. Maybe 25 or 35, but never 47. I'm not sure what I thought 47 would be like, but it wasn't this.

We generally like surprises when they go that direction--a bank error in our favor, a trip that takes less time than we thought it would, a test score that is better than we expected. But when the surprises go the other direction, they are not generally welcome. Most pressing in my thoughts are the people who were just driving home from work on Wednesday evening to suddenly find themselves dropped into the Mississippi River or onto the river's banks by the I-35W bridge collapse. No storm, no announced danger, no warning, just sudden disaster. Out of the disaster have come many stories of heroism and self-sacrifice--but also many stories of grief. There is also a palpable sense of relief from those who, for whatever reason, just avoided the disaster. A good friend had crossed the bridge two hours before it went down. A former co-worker went across no more than ten minutes before the collapse. A current co-worker was delayed in the office and would ordinarily have been on the bridge at 6:05 p.m.

At some point we will hear the cry for answers. How do we make sense of this tragedy? No matter what the NTSB discovers in their post-incident investigation, the bigger "Why?" may simply never be answered this side of heaven. On the other side, I wonder if the question will be asked?