I'm one of those people who has to have a goal to work towards or I will lose all my motivation to keep at it. At the beginning of this year, I told myself I'd run a race a month...and I did it!! Some months, I even ran two! So far, I've conquered 8 5ks, 3 10ks and a Half Marathon! I made a point to run the entire race - no matter what...and if I walked at all, I told myself, I couldn't hang my number on my "wall of fame". So far, all 12 bibs have made it to the wall!
I love everything about the race...I love signing up for it and writing it down on my calendar, I love picking up my bib number and t-shirt the day before the race and seeing people I know at the running store, I love the pre-race excitement that I feel, I love lining up at the start line and taking off, I love crossing the finish line...and I absolutely LOVE the feeling of accomplishment once it's over! I love waking up the next day, checking the sports section to see where I finished...The whole experience is so worth the entry fees to me!
Racing, to me, is the best way to gauge where I was last month and where I am right now. It gives me the push I need to keep running and training...and there is just something about a race that makes it virtually impossible for me to stop and walk.
Today's race was especially poignant. It happened to fall on the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 so, no matter how tough it was, or how hot it got, I had to remind myself that there were thousands of people who went through a whole lot worse, ten years ago. When I found myself complaining of the heat, I had to remember those people who tried to flee the Twin Towers and were unable to or the heroes who went down in that Pennsylvania field. I had absolutely no right to complain...
I just felt gratitude to be running and to have been given the chance to live another day.
Racing keeps me on track.
"We are shaped and fashioned by what we love." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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