Live your story to its fullest

Editor's note: Daren Schumaker of Cedar Rapids and Dennis Lee of Walford are attempting to run across Iowa's 99 counties to raise money for the American Heart Association. The two have completed 70 counties. This is No. 67. Next: Palo Alto

By Daren Schumaker, community contributor

Some stories are worth repeating. Whether you're just hearing it for the first time or you've known every word by heart for as long as you can remember, listen up.

This story isn't about a little train that could or about a little train that couldn't. In fact, this story isn't even about a train. This story isn't about three little pigs, a fairy princess or a big bad wolf. This story is about where most of these stories are found, in books - pages bound together between two covers.

Time to start today's story, a story about time.

On Nov. 1, we departed Cedar Rapids at 6:15 a.m. and headed north on Interstate 380, continuing north on Highway 218 to our destination, Floyd County. The previous night had brought the year's first frost and the air remained brisk as we prepared for take off, turning east and leaving the runway at 8:45 a.m. We struggled with cold faces and fingers on 215th Street for a couple of miles before darting north on a dirt and grass path, skirting farm fields and dancing through woods. We crossed the Winnebago River and found ourselves in Rockford, where we continued eastward along East Main Street, stopping only briefly to play in the leaves that littered the sidewalk.

We followed 210th Street out of Rockford and passed the Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock High School and before too long we had completed our 10th mile and had merged onto a portion of Highway 14 known as '7 Mile Road.” As soon as we stepped onto '7 Mile Road” we realized we were about to climb a hill that blended into the horizon, a horizon decorated with windmills that slowly spun. We climbed that gradual hill and stared at those windmills for more than an hour before we had traversed all seven miles of '7 Mile Road” and passed under Highway 218. We entered Charles City, ran downtown to the Floyd County Courthouse, jumped on a trail, crossed the Cedar River and rolled onto Highway 18 on the east end of Charles City.

With only five miles to go, the short yet steep hills on Highway 18 were welcome challenges. Just before we passed the Northeast Iowa Regional Airport, a truck driver blew the horn of his semi loud enough to wake the dead - and to scare us to death. Either he was happy to see us, or not too impressed. Only time will tell. The wide and freshly graveled shoulders of Highway 18 soon brought us to our destination via a well deserved downhill finish. Floyd County fought hard, but after a 26.35-mile battle that lasted 3:42:50, we stood victorious.

It seems like it was just last week we playfully ran across Benton County from Belle Plaine to Walford. However, the fact of the matter is we crossed our first county five years ago. It seems like it was just yesterday when we hit the halfway point while in Chariton in Lucas County, but that was February. It seems like it was just minutes ago we tackled Montgomery County to officially complete two-thirds of our journey, but that was October. The book that holds our story will have a front cover, 99 chapters, and a back cover - and be bound together with blood, sweat and tears.

The benefit of our story is we know when it will end, and we know how much farther we have to go. The covers are hard and the plot predictable. This is an exception rather than the rule. Most stories have unexpected plot twists and end sooner than you would have liked them to. We thought we would run on '7 Mile Road” forever before reaching the windmills on the horizon, but in a flash they were in our review mirror.

Time doesn't wait for you. The fact is that the minute hand moves faster than you think it does. Seconds to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days, days to years, years to a lifetime. Don't waste time, it is a valuable resource none of us knows how much we really have. Make the most of it, every second. Don't waste a single page in the book of your life and do what you can to stay healthy so that you can keep turning those pages.

Inspiration through perspiration. Become active or make a donation to Team 99 Counties or the American Heart Association to help fight heart disease today.