When training for a marathon there is great satisfaction in building up the number of miles that you are able to effortlessly run. The day is soon approaching for you to run your first marathon and the excitement builds. Before the sun comes up you find yourself dressing for the big event in a hotel room that overlooks the bay area. As you walk towards where the race begins you reflect on all the hours you spent pounding the pavement in varying degrees of weather. Now it is a matter of minutes before the gun goes off and you’ve began the marathon. Twenty six miles go by and you wonder how did it go so fast. You cross the finish line in exhaustion with overwhelming thoughts of joy as you’ve accomplished the goal of running a marathon. Congratulations are in order. You can barely walk but you want to enjoy the moment as bystanders look in awe at what you have done. You smile and take it all in. Your body continues to cool down. You start thinking about what is next for the day. You slowing start to make your way back to the hotel room. As you walk into your room you crash on the bed and think….it’s over. There is a let down a sense of disappointment. Everything that you had been doing the past 8 months was focused on today and the day is over, the run is finished. What do I do now?
Many optometrists are like the runner in the story above. They work so hard training through years of school and then graduate and wait for the gun to tell them to start practice. After 26 years or more of practice the finish line is right in front of them. Some stretch for the end and finish strong, others resist and cut their pace to a crawl hoping they will never reach the finish line.
It’s hard as an optometrist in the first 10 miles to understand what it is like for those who are finishing the race. The optometrist in the first 10 miles sees many more grueling miles up and down hills and through rough terrain. They don’t understand why the OD in the last mile might pull up or resist finishing. One only needs to be in the final mile to truly understand what the end of the race looks like. If you are a new OD looking to buy out an OD in the final mile, be aware that you too will be in the final mile at some point in your life and approach this time with dignity, respect, and honor towards the optometrist that has paved the way for your future success.
