I ran a half-marathon last month. This was my first race of the sort. A former track star-sprinter, I did not aspire to distance running. Who’d a thunk it: Fifteen years later, I’d not only run 13.1 miles, but I’d actually enjoy it.
Funny thing is, for the first 4 miles I had no clue how I was going to make it to the end. All those years ago, running track – I always had ridiculously painful shin splints for the first quarter of the season. For this particular race, a bum ankle cautioned me to run the half-marathon rather than the full.
Between the shins and the ankle, I didn’t know how I would walk, let alone run. I’d trained for this challenge on dirt road, so when I hit the pavement in Phoenix with 34,000 others at the P.F. Chang’s Rock and Roll Marathon, each step felt like daggers slicing into my lower legs.
The beauty is that in those first few minutes, I found my inspiration. You see, I decided to participate in this run as part of a fundraiser for the American Stroke Association. A month before my wedding, my paternal grandmother, Berneis Box Walker, had a stroke that led to a fall that eventually proved fatal.
I ran in her honor, and as I soon learned while fundraising in honor of friends who also had been touched by stroke, the disease is the No. 3 killer in the United States.
So when my foot hit the ground at the beginning of the race, and the pain shot up my leg, I thought: “Granny, you’re going to have to help me through this. If these first few steps are any indication of this race, I have no clue how I’ll make it.” Her memory pushed me through those tough first miles. After Mile Four, though she still was with me, I no longer had to plead for assistance.
She still, however, sent inspiration to keep me going. You would not believe the many grandmothers and grandfathers I ran alongside – no, excuse me – who passed me as I ran.
There was the 80-year-old great-grandmother participating in her third half-marathon, who’d also run two marathons in the past five years. She walked this year in support of a daughter who was running this course for her first marathon; and her husband, whom she’d inspired years ago to also participate in such races.
Her husband was miles ahead of us. “Oh, he’s much faster than me,” she said, laughing. “I don’t even try to keep up.”
Or the youthful grandmother and mother of six, ages 35 to 5-year-old twins, who’d quit her career to care for the two youngest, one of whom has cerebral palsy. This is the thing she does for herself. Run.
But the ladies I believe my grandmother sent turned out to be my pacers. My goal was to never let this trio in green out of my sight! They were three sisters, grandmothers from Phoenix, Sacramento and San Diego … one of them with children in Denver. These ladies had sparkle! They trained in separate cities and stayed together the whole way.
Though I was having a great conversation with the fascinating 80-year-old great-grandmother I lamented to her that I must speed up as I watched my trio of green shrink into the horizon.
As I sprinted to catch up with them, I saw more amazing people committed to reaching a goal they’d set for themselves. A woman on oxygen. Another with one leg about 6 inches shorter than the other, who used crutches to help her on the journey. An older man hunched over, unable to look up to watch the course, but committed to his goal.
As I passed Mile Twelve with an enormous smile on my face, mind you, I realized I’d forgotten the pain of the shins and throbbing ankle many miles ago. Elated, and passing the women who helped me set pace, I sprinted much of the remainder of the course.
Crossing the finish line was amazing. The only thing I could think of was when I would run the next race.
What crazy, challenging, seems-too-difficult task are you avoiding? Hit it head on. You may run into some shin splints along the way, but I almost can guarantee that if you stay focused, the inspiration will come.
Doni Luckett is chief executive of Divine-Basics.com, which produces lifestyle products to reconnect with moments that matter. Your questions may be addressed in the column by e-mailing enrichyourlife@divine-basics.com.
