Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.
Ultrarunning and Life’s Lessons
My daddy once rode his bicycle from one side of Japan to the other.
It took him a couple of days. He had planned on taking a longer time but he couldn’t find anywhere to sleep, so he got mad and kept on riding. Before he knew it, he was home.
When you ride your bicycle across the island of Japan you have to go over the Japanese Alps.
Cars can do it, says daddy, so people on bicycles can do it, too. It just takes longer.
Besides going downhill is more fun on a bike than on a car.
He says he got passed by cars going up the hill but he passed cars who had to slow down when he went down the hill. That must have been fun!
Lesson:
“Learn to like the challenge of getting up hills.”
Axiom:
“Most cyclists don’t like to climb hills.”
When you go across a country, you HAVE TO go over hills, daddy said. So, you might as well like doing it.
And, since people are wasting effort when they hate to do something and you still have to do it, you might as well not not like climbing hills and learn to like it. You have to do it anyway.
And finally, if you are coming across as being happy while the guy next to you is complaining about climbing the hill, you will defeat him mentally. Besides you still have to go over the hill.
I think there are going to be hills in life that I must go up and over. I might as well be happy when it happens. The hills of life will happen whether I am happy or not.
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