inspiration.
As I approach my second marathon with no true race goal, commitment or race day plan, today slightly changed me as a runner.
I started my day at 4:45am to get up eat my Picky Bar - Cookie Doughpness and have Nuun Tri-Berry before my 12 mile run. I finished my morning routine and drove to Montrose Harbor to start my run.
I popped in my RunGum and off I went.
My run didn’t go nearly as planned and it was just a struggle. I was quickly reminded that it was a training run, and I’ve had some fantastic runs the past few months that a bad one is bound to happen. I covered exactly 12miles in exactly 1:48:00. So 9min/mi, which you’re probably thinking that’s really not that bad, no stress. True. No Stress.
After my run I headed over to volunteer at the Chicago Area Runners Association LiveGrit 10Mi. I course marshaled at mile 2.25 and about mile 9.9 (same spot). I honestly was mopey today after my run. The lady checking me in was asking me about my BibRave tank and if I was on there. I am, and she said that website is so inspiring for her. She wants to run a race some day and she looks on there for inspiration. I told her she will and not be fearful the running community is great, she seems to know because she loves to volunteer at races. Some day you will! I promise !
It was a great feeling to cheer on runners from the first to last runner and see the spirit through the finish. Okay so maybe 10miles isn’t 26.2, but when a gentleman tells me, “I’m 90 years old and I am going to finish this race,” it put things in a different perspective. Maybe this is cliche, maybe I care too much about my time and not enough about being out there. Sure he was close to the back, but he was out there smiling and thanking volunteers. The amount of people who thanked and smiled at me while ringing my cowbell and shouting cheers was encouraging to me. I was just out there to support a community I love and an organization that I support. I didn’t really expect to gain anything besides the satisfaction of volunteering. Runners were asking me if I was cold, yes I was freezing, and thanks for asking and caring, but it’s not about me, keep running!!
Seriously though, the best part of today was my friend Judy telling me she pulled a Kim and ran the entire race. I am so proud of her!!!
More to my point and less windy here is what I learned from today:
SMILE during races, it should be fun. I’m not there to win prize money. I’m not that fast.
Runners truly are the BEST people ever.
When you least expect it someone will inspire you to be better, chances are that person is someone you least expect
Don’t dwell on ONE RUN, I should be happy I could complete my run.
I want to volunteer at races more, every runner should
I think a lot of these things we can apply to life too.
I’m going to spend my last two weeks of taper excited for my race, relaxing and putting my best effort out there. I will smile at some point between the start and the finish and hopefully a few more times along the way. I’ll come up with a goal and a plan, but most importantly I will enjoy being out there and thank as many volunteers as I can.
WI I’m coming for you!!!