Just Outside of Heaven (A Good Country Mile)

The bouncin’ off the walls
The waitin’ in the streets
The take it for granted and then some
It’s safe to assume there ain’t enough room
If everyone wants to get near
There’s a deafening silence and everything stops
To find its own promise and balance
The rush is still coming but miles away
To find its own crossings and paths
So where do you go when you close your eyes
Where do you go when you sleep?
There’s a white picket fence and a house on the hill
From there I can see the lights
I’m just outside of heaven
A good country mile…
…

Kevn Kinney – A Good Country Mile

There is something haunting yet beautiful about these lyrics. After listening to the entire song over and over I believe that I know what he was writing about which really has nothing to do with running or marathons (but what song does?)? However, for some odd reason, they are easy for me to relate to a marathon, life (and even death).

The start of a marathon is a very anxious time. You don’t know what the next several hours will bring. There is a nervous energy yet, for me, a peaceful calmness. I have found peace at the starting line waiting for the mass of human energy to move me forward. The start of a marathon is very crowded with little room to stand let alone run. You can feel people bouncin’ off the walls still chatting to anyone who will listen. When the gun goes off, there is a deafening silence, a single-mindedness of the task at hand and a focus. Although everyone is moving, it feels like everything stops and your mind enters another dimension. There is a promise that you will be a better person at the end (or in the end), cleansed and balanced at least for a little while. The “rush” is when you must dig deeper to keep moving forward when your body or mind wants to quit. The “rush” can be when you are at the finish completely cleansed, exhausted and free. You wait for the “rush” to occur but you know its miles away and the journeys, crossings and paths will help you find the way. To me, running a marathon is like closing my eyes and going to sleep, I am still alive but at a sub-conscience peace yet dying a little being in perfect harmony and state. I’m close to heaven. I can see the lights. God is with me. I’m just outside of heaven, a good country mile.

Life is an anxious time. You feel the past; you live in the present and hope for the future. With life, you don’t know what the next day will bring but giving your life to God will allow you to be at peace, peace with the past, a serenity of present and peace for the future. I’m just outside of heaven, a good country mile.

Delaware 5/20/07 - 3:45:50; Sunburst 6/2/07 - 3:55:29