Step step
Step step
One foot in front of the other
Keep going
A little further, to that bus
stop, to the tree, to the mailbox
Weight on toes, Weight on toes
Dang - A heel step!
Step step
Step step
Hello, Good looking!
Big smile
Oh wait … breathe breathe
Damn, stitch!
Deep breath in, deep breath out
Step step
Step step
CAR!!!!!
Step step step step step step
Phew, smile …
I've always hated running. Actually, I've never been very good at
sports. I was the kid who tried a new sport every year but despite all my best
efforts always warmed the bench. My mother would never let me quit. “You don’t
have to do it again next year but you do have to finish what you started this
year,” she’d say. So, my poor coaches would be stuck with me for a season. My
tennis coach put it best. We were at the end of year banquet and he’d gone
around and said nice things about every player. He finally got to me and there
was a long pause while you could tell he was really searching for the right
words (I’d hit him in the head with the ball accidentally three times throughout
the season and most of the time he was a good two or three courts away when it
happened!) and said “Dash, you suck but you have a great attitude!”
But over the last few months I've taken up the act of running outdoors
and I'm strangely starting to enjoy it. And no, it’s not just the Clapham eye
candy that keeps me coming back for more but the ridiculous feeling of
accomplishment I feel at the end of a nice long run.
Now, my success rate depends almost completely on whether or not I have
a running buddy. I'm learning (for me) running is more of a team sport than I’d
ever imagined. I do not have the drive or desire to keep going without a
trusted buddy by my side and I'm lucky to have a great few. My drive comes from
not wanting to let my buddy down or ruin his or her run. My drive is the fight
to not want to be left behind or the jealousy of knowing the person who keeps
going will be finished with the task before me. So, when running with a buddy,
I keep going. I push a little harder, go a little faster and find a way to
escape my body and work on auto pilot. And now I'm starting to understand the
appeal of running, the rush and desire to do it again, the addiction to
escaping and just doing. It’s a high worth fighting for!
While I've been averaging about 4.5 miles a day, my biggest
accomplishment so far was a charity 10K my running buddy and I participated in
this past Sunday. It was cold, windy and wet (and the free t-shirt was orange).
The course was a 5K loop, so when all the 5K runners were being cheered across
the finish line we got to run right by and do it again. The mental game to keep
going was a new challenge but we pushed each other onwards. She pulled me
through the first loop and I pushed her through the second. Teamwork, I tell
you! We managed to cross the finish line at exactly 1:00:42.
While we were not the fastest or the strongest runners on the course we
felt a great sense of accomplishment and the desire to find the next run and
beat the next time. Even now, I might
never find a desire to run a marathon or even go farther than a 10K, but I am
pretty proud that I've tackled my passionate hate for running and crossed over
into the land of the people who “get it!” Who knows, I might just call myself a
runner one day …