Inspiration

At almost every race I get inspired by somebody.  But rarely is it the race winner.  Its humbling to see elites rolling through 100 miles at 8 to 10 minutes per mile.  Its crazy to think about the pace of a 2-hour marathon (I think I can hold it for about 200 meters).  I respect the athleticism, the work ethic, and the toughness to achieve these results.

You know who does not get enough props? 

• The big girl who takes 5 hours and 50 minutes to finish a marathon, but finishes, nonetheless. 
• The middle-aged dude with chicken legs and a belly who spends 50 hours a week behind a desk and realizes his life is passing by, a guy who looks terrible in spandex, but gets up, starts running, enters a big race and finishes. 
• The vet who lost a leg but does not give a shit and finishes with a prosthetic leg.
• The runner who signs up for a long race, gets out there and DNFs, then signs up again for the same race and goes back and kicks its ass.
• The addict who is trying to put the pieces back together who stubbornly pushes through to accomplish something that they never thought possible.
• The person with MS who signs up for a bike race but can’t bike so instead drives an arm powered wheelchair at a painstakingly slow pace to finish.
• The racer who has had the wheels fall off, but who keeps moving and who is ultimately caught by a cutoff but never gives up.

All these people are trying to make themselves better.  All have discovered courage that they may not have known they had.  All are tough.  Every single one has grown in confidence.

The fact is that we all only grow, we only accomplish something, if we put ourselves in a position where we might fail.  There is no growth without pain and no success without risk.  We don’t need to look to the elite athletes on the cover of Sports Illustrated or Outside to know what it takes to succeed.  That inspiration is in the normal, but exceptional, people all around us.