Orefield, Pa.
Why does anyone do anything? Yeah, we all have our stories, our tales of personal challenges, losses and inspiration. I am always inspired by the why so many people overcome anything to do anything. As someone who grew up with poor vision, I always
liked the perspective of Jose Feliciano, the blind guitarist and singer, who said his blindness was an “inconvenience”.
Similarly, our challenges are our inconveniences. You just deal with it. In 2000 I had a stroke at age 50 which really stopped me from running for 9 months. It turns out it was a PFO I had from birth that never sealed. That made running the Half pretty special the next time I ran it. When my sister died, in my mind I dedicated that year’s Half to her. Sometimes the inspiration is just an “f- you” to the unfairness of certain life events.
Lyme Disease brought its own challenges. Running in the morning (especially), and anytime (in general) just seems such an emotional chore. You really want to do it but actually doing it needs a special effort.
For me, The St. Luke’s Half has become “the” benchmark goal for me every spring. Life keeps throwing stuff at you; that’s just the way it is. It’s everything from a Bakers Cyst behind the knee to plantar fasciitis that tries to slow you down. In the middle of it all you feel a little like the Monty Python Black Knight who had his limbs chopped off and resiliently responded, “Oh, it’s only a flesh wound!” The Half is the great motivator for me every year.
So, what’s really the point? I don’t consider myself to be special or have one of those amazing stories that would inspire anyone. I’m just like most of the other runners, only slower. We so admire those folks and celebrate the incredible effort and motivation it took for them to overcome the really big challenges and accomplish their own special goal. We all have our reasons. At 60 (not so old) I would have to say the Half remains my big goal every year. My big goal is being “one of those folks” who is still running the Half at 65, then 70. Maybe Nike had it right: just “doing it” is the story, the other life stuff is interesting back story.
I just want to represent the especially not-so-competitive, slow-poke everyday older runners who run it because it’s life affirming. It’s such a thrill to be running with a lot of regular folks who don’t know how inspirational they are each time I run this race.
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