Rest at the End

Rest at the End Not the Middle

Written by Lisa Whiteman          

I recently had a group of women ask me how it was possible to make it through 1015 trail miles on a snowmobile as a fundraiser to send low-income kids to summer camp.  I started the same way I always do when people ask me this and I usually laugh and agree it was certainly a very grueling ride and experience.  The part of the ride that is still the most vivid are the hydro lines.  It was a total whiteout and had been for close to twelve hours, with heavy snow accumulation.  We could not reschedule the ride due to two of us not being available after this day, so we pulled out of the Ramada parking lot knowing we were in for a challenging twenty-four hours. I did not know exactly how long we had been riding for or exactly how many miles we had travelled, but I did know I was tired, and I wanted to quit.  My arms and shoulders were incredibly sore, and my knees had started to ache at this point.  Riding through so much snow and breaking so much trail we had to physically exert ourselves a lot more than anticipated.  Hydro lines are typically fast trails, however in a white out and in darkness with heavy snow on the trails they were quite challenging.  I tried to always keep Jeffrey’s taillight visible as my lifeline for the ride, knowing if I could see that light, I was ok.  At no point was I worried about getting left behind on the trail, I knew this would never happen.  Losing that taillight meant I was falling behind, and falling behind meant I was not going to get this ride done in time and that was my biggest fear.  Knowing the people who doubted me would be right and the naysayers would be right and all the women who needed to see me finish would be let down, that was my biggest fear.  I could not pull to the side of the trail and park, I could not call my husband or family to help me, I could only get myself out of this.  I must rest at the end not in the middle because no one is coming to save me.  I must keep this machine moving and I must tell myself that I can do just a little bit more, because just when I thought I had nothing left, there was always just a little bit more.  Mile after mile I told myself this, just a little further, just a little bit more, you must keep going and you must finish these thousand miles, or you will regret it the rest of your life.  In life you must find the strength to keep going because the pain of quitting will always last longer than the pain you are in now.  Rest at the end, not in the middle.