Why I love Running

Best said through this quote...

"Our running shoes are really erasers. Every step erases some past failure. Every mile brings us closer to a clean slate. Each foot strike rubs away a word, a look, or an event which led us to believe that success was beyond our grasp.”
By John Bingham


How did I get started running when I grew up hating it? It all started with my Dad running his first marathon 4 years ago. For those of you who have met my Dad you'd be gasping for air at the last sentence. For those of you who have not, let me just share with you....My Dad is 6 foot 6 and had recently yo-yo'd with his fitness when he announced to me that he was going to train and run a marathon. Seeing that he has an office desk job and was so busy already, I told him I'd support him with the decision, but all was said with a kind of "could he do it?" mind set. At one point in his training I had told him that if he ran the marathon and survived, that I would run one with him. Well, he did it. He trained for months, dropped the weight and survived the marathon. It was so inspiring to watch him train and run the race! He had a new glow about him that was contagious and he verbally tried to explain the running "high."

So keeping my word, I started training. It was tough, especially getting started, but I found the above quote to be true. Running long distances gave me the opportunity to not only conquer my physical body, but my mind and all of my "negative" past that would tell me I couldn't do it. I think that is the real "runners high."

Thanks Dad for inspiring me to achieve something higher than can really be explained. The rock and roll marathon was awesome and I hope to get the chance to run another one with you someday. Until then, let us all keep cleaning our slate...one step(eraser) at a time.