Inspiration

One of the greatest experiences I have had in this journey in running this year has been all of those who have been touched by my journey.

As those of you who are close to me know, I have not been shy about sharing my running and weight loss success on social media.  My Facebook and Twitter pages are full of mileage milestones, race pictures and times and other running-related posts that inspire me.

My purpose in posting was two-fold.  Yes, I wanted to share with my friends about the progress towards my goals, but to also receive inspiration.

So it is humbling when the inspiration works the other way around, when people tell me that they are inspired to action by my words and my actions.

The first instance that sticks in my mind was at the CoSIDA Convention in June.  I had just completed the Helvetia Half Marathon the weekend before, but had been taking the morning opportunities to run in a place I never had before. 

I was at a reception on the final night of the convention, and I was talking to a friend who happens to be on the CoSIDA Board.  For those of you who have not served, sitting on the CoSIDA Board means 6 and 7 a.m. meetings during the entire convention.

Despite those meetings, this friend told me that the running I had done, and the running I was doing in Orlando, had inspired him to get up every morning before those board meetings and get on the treadmill.  I was dumbfounded and proud at the same time.  Dumbfounded that I could have inspired him in that way, and proud that he had taken a step to take care of himself.

There was the assistant volleyball coach that saw me running while teaching her fitness class, and used that as the inspiration to jump into a race.  There is the former Pacific colleague of mine, how working in Illinois, who used my Facebook posts as a call to lace up the shoes and put the miles in.  He jokingly said that he was tired on being shown up on Facebook by miles.  I only jokingly responded, “It’s not about showing you up, but getting you to show up.”

After the Portland Marathon, I was profiled in the local paper for my personal best time, highlighting the changes I had made to both lose weight and get serious about training.  The article promoted an email from a complete stranger, a former runner herself, who herself was inspired by my accomplishments.

She said she has run a couple of marathons in the past, but has also struggled with weight over the years, and wants to be a runner again.  “I just turned 54 yesterday and want to lose 25 pounds,” she said.  “That was another bit of inspiration I gleaned from the article…that you lost 25 pounds in 6-7 months and dropped your finish time dramatically.  I would love for that to be story!”

After taking the time to reply, I hope it is.  But the true inspiration doesn’t come from a newspaper story, a Facebook post or a number on a scale.  It comes from that inner fire we have to become better people, to set and achieve goals and realize their potential.

And it is inspiring to me that I can be that inspiration to others.

"The miracle isn't that I finished.  The miracle is that I had the courage to start." - John Bingham