Running Heroes

It’s a great day for running! I had 4 miles for breakfast today and it sure felt good. Even with the soupy humidity, horrific cigarette smoke and cobweb dodging, I was able to pull off a negative split! Why does every car that passes me on the road smell like an ashtray on four wheels? The first mile beeped on my garmin, I looked down and saw 11:31. “What the??” I knew I was taking it easy, I didn’t realize I was running that slowly. The second mile beeped, it was even slower (thank you hill)! The third mile beeped and it was faster, I managed to pull out another mile faster than the first two. First attempt at negative splits was a success, as well as my first attempt at four miles this summer!

Running without music has allowed me to process my thoughts. Yesterday, I came across a picture that Nathan Performance Gear had posted:

I posted it on my FB wall. My sister-in-law thanked me for it, saying that she had needed to read that. I reminded her about the fact that speed is not what is important, distance is. (Yes, I realize the contradiction to my negative split this morning!) We continued to have a conversation about speed vs. distance and how hard it is to keep your focus on your successes and not your “failures”. That is when I realized that my sister-in-law is one of my BIGGEST running heroes. My SIL is adopted. When she was born, her birth mom (hopped up on drugs) gave up in the middle of pushing and my SIL got stuck in the birth canal. Thanks to that, her left limbs which are fully formed are not fully functional. She walks with a limp and her left hand does not maneuver as well as her right. She was born this way, and it was obviously not her fault. During our FB conversation, SIL referenced that sometimes during her runs, her left leg does not move like she wants it to. I can’t even imagine how frustrating it is to want your leg to move and cooperate and it doesn’t. I then reminded her of how awesome she is and how proud I am of her. There are TONS of people who lay around with two fully functional legs that could move any way that they want, but they won’t get their lazy butts off of the couch! She still gets out there and moves, regardless of her left leg. She is my running hero and she rocks!

My second running hero is an old coworker. He’s an ultra runner who just typed up a recap from his last race. It was 200 miles. Yes, you read that right, 200 freaking miles!!! He’s a machine, a running machine! The fact that he can pull off that mass amount of miles is impressive and inspiring. I want to run like him when I grow up! The thing is, he’s the most humble person I’ve ever met. He has a passion for running and loves to share it with anyone who’s interested. He encourages me when I post about my “long” runs that are nothing compared to his short runs. His actions and words remind me that it is not about speed, but distance. It’s funny how we all can get caught up in the hustle of life, even in our runs. We get distracted by pace, and forget the real reason why we run. Being injured off and on this year has forced me to step back, enjoy every step that I take when I lace up my Asics and as G would say, savor every single run.

Today’s a great day for running, get out there and enjoy it!