Today I received a health update about an acquaintance of mine and it inspired me to write this week's article. You see, Linda and I met at the Ottawa Marathon in 2006. She was running the full marathon. Then this past winter, in her early 50's, Linda had a massive stroke. At first we weren't sure she would make it at all. Now nine months later, she's still here, but she is still not able to stand or walk, let alone run. While we're all hopeful, the truth is, she will likely never run again.
Linda's story is sad and one reasonable reaction to it would be to get discouraged, curse the fact that life is so unfair, and decide that there's no point. My reaction was different, and I know it would make Linda proud. I decided to use Linda's experience to help me to remember how lucky I am to be ABLE to do the things that I do, especially running. I use her story to fuel what I call a "GET TO" attitude rather than a "HAVE TO" one.
In distance running, as in life, there are many times when it is easy to feel like our training program is a list of things we have "have to" do. Today I ran 16k and in truth, when I woke up this morning, I wasn't looking forward to doing it. It was a hot morning, the route was full of hills, and it is the longest run I've done in a while. If I'd had a good reason, I'd have skipped it. But I didn't have a good reason and so I went out and did it. But it wasn't until I got back home and checked my email that I realized what a great run I had.
I opened my email to find the update on Linda, and how much she is still struggling to get back to 25% of where she once was, and I realized that I was extremely fortunate to have done what I just did, and that realization changed my whole perspective on not just this run, but my running and my life in general.
How do you approach your daily tasks? How do you feel when you go to work in the morning? What feeling do you have when you set out to do something that maybe isn't your favourite thing to do? What if you looked at it with the story of a person like Linda in mind? The truth is, no matter what you're doing in the run of a day, there is probably someone, somewhere, who would LOVE to have the opportunity to be doing it.
Are you frustrated sitting in traffic? Think of the person who can't afford a car. Are you dreading the hour on the treadmill this afternoon? Think of the person who can't walk. Can't think of anything good to make for supper? Think of the mother who struggles to feed her children. The more we're able to appreciate our ability to do things, the more we're able to enjoy life.
So why run marathons? Because I can. What can you do that you should be doing?
1 comment:
You know that I try so hard to live my life like you, but sometimes even I struggle to remember that I CAN. I have to remember all the things they told me I would never do and then look at all the things I can do. I am so lucky! Thanks for the reminder, Mark! It's always appreciated!
Jen Hart
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