10-21-14

The intention for this blog is to inspire and create a community of runners near and afar with the theme of sharing Why we Run as a way of living life completely.  As runners, imagine if each of us contribute a story or message to share that inspires at least one person to lace up their running shoes, which in turn moves them toward creating excellence in their life.  

Your story may resonate with someone who my message might not touch. To create this rippling force of positive energy it has to generate from a variety of runners with different inspiring stories moving toward making the world a better place, one runner at a time.   

My mission is to ask runners to blog with a running story.  The story can express a moment of joy, humor or a time of despair in which the movement of running brought clarity, a sense of purpose, and/or an expression of gratitude for life.  More explicitly, it could be a means of becoming present, extinguishing the past and beginning the process of creating excellence one stride at a time.  

Or it could be simply a story of why a run enhanced the day.   Collectively we will need to share this movement to former runners, new runners and those who find the thought of running exhausting.  We were all born to run so let’s get out spread the spirit. It’s Up to Me and it’s Up to You to generate the Movement toward a Healthier, Happier Planet, one run and one runner at at time.

10-21-14

Weekly I will share something about Why it is I Run. 

So to start with Day 1, Week 1 I will share when and why I started running. 

Summer 1976….My Love for Running started in the Summer of 1976.  I was 12 years old.  Summer Olympics 1976 I was mesmerized by the performance of Bruce Jenner winning the gold in the Decathlon.   It was then that I dreamed of being an Olympian, a decathlete, ….running, hurdling, long jumping.  In 1976 the longest distance a woman could compete in was the 1500m race. I set up my own mini Decathlon in my back yard, jumping over obstacles, long jumping, and running repeats around the circle in the neighborhood. 

I competed only with myself and my stopwatch.  I never shared until now how this obsession started or why.   I was quiet child.  My father ruled the house, my mother did as she was told, was ridiculed and abused, she was left disempowered.  I was the oldest of four children.   My observation was women did as they were told, they had their place, and women (girls) were the inferior sex.  Something inside of me believed differently.   I wanted to prove to myself and my father that girls could compete too, run, jump, race, had a voice, and could contribute. 

So I continued to run.  It gave me empowerment.  And it is one of the reasons I continue to run 38 years later.