Running a Marathon

All my life until just about 4 years ago, I seldom ran. On days when I occasionally did run, I would be out of breath within a few hundred meters, and I would huff and puff my way home, complaining I hated running. My joy for running came when it was almost taken away from me. I had a car accident and fractured my spine (L1 vertebrae). Just to get out of my bed and take a few steps was a huge challenge. My neurosurgeon told me that the path to recovery was to take more steps and move more. I was determined to do all I could for a speedy recovery.

I remember celebrating just taking a few steps to the restroom. I slowly started walking 100 mts, 200 mts, 1000 mts, 2000 mts, and so on. Every extra step I took, was a progress made in my journey of healing. 

So, what transformed my ordinary steps to recovery into running a marathon?

• Inner Change – From “I have to run” to, “I get to run”. I am not sure when I really started to enjoy running but somewhere in this journey, I started to love it. The one thing that I can think of is, in the past, my attitude to running was, to exercise and keep myself fit. I would say, I have to run, after the accident I said, I get to run. Every step I took was a big win in my journey to healing and I celebrated the wins. I was filled with an attitude of gratitude. What I took for granted in the past I started to see as a privilege now. Just changing the script without my knowledge brought joy to my running. 
• Anyone Can Run a Marathon For the longest time, I believed that running a marathon is only for certain people, those with an athletic bent, and not for the ordinary person. One day I was talking with my colleague Daniel, who mentioned that he had started exercising.  He told me that he was turning fifty and that all through his adult life, he had never worked out. I was naturally happy for him. He mentioned signing up for a marathon within a year of his fitness journey. I couldn’t believe my ears. I was shocked and a bit concerned for him because, in my mind, it’s the athletes who run, and how is he ever going to run 42 km? But he trained consistently and went on to achieve it. My colleague/friend burst the myth that day that you don’t have to be an athelete to run a marathon. At that time, I think the farthest I had run was maybe a 10k, and my mind couldn’t fathom running 4 times this distance. I nevertheless wished that I would, one day, achieve it. He planted a seed and gave me hope that anyone can run a marathon.
• My community – After running two half marathons two years in a row, I went on to register for a full marathon. I then shared this dream with my friends and family. When it came closer to the run, I started doubting my ability to run. When the going got tough my friends and family cheered louder and said they are confident that I would finish the race. My husband who never runs, started to run the last leg of my long-distance runs so he could encourage me and give me company. Every time I expressed doubt my boys refused to believe that I will have trouble finishing the race  My friends asked me to send them the links to the race so they could follow me and cheer me on. All this somehow carried me to the finish line.

In October of last year, I went on to run my first marathon. It took 5 hours and 14 minutes to finish the race and it’s not a great finish time by any standards, but I finished it!!! I celebrate that. I am proud of this achievement because it’s one of the hardest things I set out to do. The reason I wanted to share this with you all is, just like my friend Daniel who inspired me to run a marathon I want you all to do things that are hard. I also want you to check your attitude. We may say, we hate things without even giving it a fair try. 

We believe success is impossible, so we criticize it.

The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.

It doesn’t matter if you are speeding to make yet another personal record or crawling to the finish line like me, or you may be somewhere in the middle, but you need to start. May I ask you to start?  Someone on the sidelines is going to start running soon because of you.

Because they saw that you believed, and you began.

Because they saw that you pushed through your fears and were brave enough to stand at the start line. You are going to transform the lives of people by believing and stepping out of your comfort zone to do hard things.

Go and conquer your dream. Inspire people along the way. You are built for bigger, better, greater, and mightier things.

Ready!! Set!!! Go!!!