This past weekend I ran the Long Branch Half Marathon (www.njmarathon.org) in Long Branch, New Jersey. It was the wettest half marathon I’ve ever run…the only other wet one being when I ran the same race last year. But lets be honest…running in the rain is what we used to love to do as kids, and now you can do it as an adult without anyone thinking your crazy. They just think you’re crazy for running a half marathon. Perhaps we are crazy, those 9,000 of us who were out there in the rain, but if so, than I’m OK with it.
Last year I ran a 1:50:27, a PR for me. This year? 2:55. 1 Hour, 5 minutes slower. You’d think I’d be disappointed. You’d think perhaps that I got injured during the run. You’d think I wouldn’t want to let people know my time. Well, you’d be wrong.
This year I had the honor of helping my girlfriend achieve her PR in the race. Together, through almost 3 hours of rain and wind, we pushed through it all to help her knock 21 minutes over her previous time. That, by anyone’s standards, is an amazing feat. What made it even more amazing was that in the 14 weeks we were training, she missed 2.5 weeks due to sickness, one week due to vacation, and struggled throughout with a resurgence of asthma. But through it all, she stayed focus and positive, and I’m proud to say she kicked some butt!
See, happiness in running is not always found through your own successes. Sometimes, and probably the luckiest of times, happiness in running is found through someone else’s achievements, through someone else reaching their goal. I was proud and excited to help her reach her goal, but not only that, I actually was able to enjoy the race. I wasn’t huffing and puffing and hurting and struggling to reach a new PR for me. I was able to run easy, and take time to enjoy the simple act of running. I was able to fully appreciate the beauty of 9,000 mostly complete strangers coming together for one purpose, one goal…to cross the finish line. Sometimes when you’re too focused on yourself, you miss the bigger, and oftentimes greater, picture.
Take the time to help someone else reach their goal. Through their achievement, you too will feel like you accomplished something great.
“A life isn’t significant except for its impact on other lives.”
- Jackie Robinson
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