More Lessons from Running

For the past two years, I have participated in the 20in24 Lone Ranger Marathon.  It is a fantastic race that absolutely tests the limits of the participants.  I was signed up to run again this year, but was feeling pretty nervous.  I have really been improving my marathon times through speedwork and shorter races. The Long Ranger race, where you run as much as you can in 24 hours (last year, 50+ miles), teaches your body endurance for sure, but it's not a race where you work on your speed.

But after a lot of soul searching, I made the decision to run.  I was signed up, had a hotel room, and was trying to think of the best way to convince people to donate money and/or their time to come give me moral support.

Of course, this is when my office decided to send me out of the country for a business trip.  My first overseas business trip!!  At first, I thought that I could work both - you know, run 50+ miles super quick and then hop on a plane ride less than 24 hours later.

My family and friends talked me out of that one pretty quickly.

Naturally, being the cool, collected individual that I am, I panicked.  When you register for this race, you have to fundraise.  I had not fundraised anything, which meant two things: 1) I didn't have to go to anyone who donated and tell them that I wasn't running (whew) and 2) if I didn't fundraise, they were going to charge my credit card the full amount that I was supposed to.

This is a gamble that runners take when we sign up to do races for charities.  If we get sick, injured, or called away for work during the race, we face the terrifying dilemma of feeling like a failure - what's more, you could feel like a very poor failure, since there's suddenly a huge charge on your credit card.

So I spent a few days in complete dread, worrying about everything under the sun.  Then I pulled myself together and emailed the organizer of the race.

I let her know that I had done the race before and loved it.  I told her that I couldn't wait to run in the race again.  I pointed out that for the last two years, I had raised more than the required amount for the charity.  And then I explained why I could not participate this year, and promised to run next year.  Less than 24 hours later, one of their staff members emailed me back and told me that they were going to make an exception and cancel my registration.  And that they looked forward to seeing me in 2013.

What is the point here?  What is the lesson?

Distance running in particular teaches us to take our time and enjoy the ride.  It never helps to be cranky or upset, because you just have to keep going.  So in a case like this, why not be sweet, explain the situation, and see what happens?  If they had told me they were still going to charge my card, I would still do the race next year.  I have fun.  But because they were supportive and kind back to me, you can be sure that I'll redouble my fundraising efforts next year.

 Everyone is just trying to do the best that they can and all we can do is acknowledge that in others and in ourselves.  Running teaches us to do everything with love, passion, and energy.

Time for a run!