swirling

“Life is Not a Track Meet…It’s a Marathon” –Ice Cube

Things I learned this last weekend as I ran the SLC Marathon:
1) Life is easier and much more enjoyable when we have others with whom we can share it.
2) Slowing down is not defeat. It is actually making success possible.
3) There are thousands of people succeeding and failing at this moment, and their pains and joys are just as much mine as theirs.
4) There are also thousands of people who deserve to be my heroes.

My favorite moment from running my first marathon was jogging past a lady, easily 76 years old, hair dyed bright red, face wrinkled like a prune, but a brown prune as her foundation make-up was caked down to her neck. She stood slightly stooped, cowbell high above her head and shook it with all her might. “You are my hero! You will make it! You are almost there!” she cried over the crowd, her voice scratchy and fumbling. I ran that mile for her. I hope to cheer like that for perfect strangers when I grow up.