Lace up to Keep Up

I see so many "motivational" posts about running and athletics that say things like "PR or ER" or “Unless You Puke, Faint or Die, Keep Going!”  And I'll be honest....they turn me off completely!  Do I really want to choose something like that to do in my spare time? These things used to make me kind of upset...I'd think: Really?  Don't you have enough pain and struggle in your real life?  No one is paying you to do this!  I mean I'm OK with "Go Big or Go Home"  as long as go home is a legitimate option.

But then again, I also said that running...workouts outside, etc. were something I would NEVER DO.  "I'm the world's greatest indoors person!" I would declare. A lot of things enter into my feelings about extreme challenge...and some of these things also entered into me getting started doing something I'd NEVER DO and keeping at it for 11 years and counting. Let me tell you a story....

Once upon a time there was a girl named Melanie (she's my daughter).  She was a challenge, as many teenagers are. When I remarried and moved to Texas for graduate school, she decided to go live with her father. And all was well until one August day when I was pulled out of class and told "Melanie has been in an accident..."  A lot of the rest of that day and the days that followed (20 years ago now) was a blur.  But the result was that Mel, who had been hit as a pedestrian outside the crosswalk, was (and is) a T-12 paraplegic. I don't want to dwell on her struggles here, but I don't want to make light of the struggle it has been for her or for me (that's where all my "dig deep and keep going" goes), but it is not the point of this story either.

At some point, about a year after her accident we moved Melanie to Texas to live with us.  At the time, understand, both Glenda and I were probably 60-75 pounds heavier and never DREAMED of running. We had joined a gym, but were pretty haphazard about it.  Then Melanie met LeeAnn, a girl about her age, also in a wheelchair who had been working out with Blaze Track Club in Austin, TX (a club for mobility impaired athletes) and she challenged Mel to try a 5K.

We had taken Melanie to our gym to help build her ab muscles (very important to a paraplegic) and by chance her personal trainer was a former eastern European weight lifter name Emil Iankov. The man was straight out of central casting, accent and all.  They began to talk and Emil told Melanie, "If you choose to take this challenge, I will do it with you," definitely out of his comfort zone too. He further said, "I will not push you, but I will not ride on your lap either." They agreed that they would try the Teddy Bear 5K and they would try to finish in under an hour. In Melanie's apartment still hangs a picture of the them crossing that finish line...arms pumped in triumph with the time of 58 minutes and change showing in the background.

But it didn't end there.  Glenda and I went to watch.  We'd never thought of watching a 5K before.  Glenda was particularly inspired by it...and soon she was running and doing triathlon. Melanie continued to race and work out.  And me...well let's say I was a late bloomer...but finally for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was having something to talk about with my run obsessed family at dinner... I decided to try it too. And the rest as they say, is history...sort of.

Melanie has, in recent years, had a number of significant health challenges and is trying to get back to racing.  Sadly, at the moment she has had to bow out of what would have been her first Disney race due to a pressure sore.  Her health has presented a lot of challenges for all of us...enough that I run, race, workout absolutely for fitness and fun...not to  PR or ER.  I like a challenge...I just don't need to kill myself over it (none of which means I don't dig deep or work hard...).  And we all stand ready to do that first Disney race when she is ready. And while the happily ever after at the end of this story is still TBD, Glenda and I are so glad that a girl in a wheelchair taught us to run.

 

Glenda Mel and I early in our running careers.

 

Melanie, with me running in the background in her most recent race about a year ago.

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