Inspiration

All of us runners had to start somewhere.  At some point there was a person, or an event, or a book, or a movie or whatever it was, that got us to say 'you know what?  I can do that too.'  And then you laced up your shoes, put on whatever clothes that seemed most athletic, and went out the door to try and really run.  Those initial sources of inspiration are things we never forget.  We hold them dear to our hearts and look at them as the roots of the running we have grown to love. 

I clearly remember this day as the first day I KNEW I waned to be a runner.
Don't I look nice in my brother's letter jacket? :)

Through everyone's evolution in their running there are additional sources of inspiration along the way - friends that are running further or faster than you, people that are 'zen runners' and can get out there without a watch or a game plan and just run for the sake of running, people like Scott Jurek or Dean Karnazes or Ray Zahab, a podcast on Trail Runner Nation may have really resonated with you and inspire you to train for a 50 miler.  Each person has had key things in their running journey inspire them to take things to a different level, and those things are always kept in a special place in their memory.

On the flipside, you, as a runner, have very likely inspired someone else in your life to also tie their shoes and head out the door as well.  I bet there's more than once you've been running down the side of a road and someone in that car driving by that was smoking a cigarette and eating French fries out of a paper bag from McDonalds and looked at you and said - 'yes, I can do that.'  And afterwards, they did in fact do that.  They ran.  And they ran because they saw you out there. 

A great gift to us runners is that the running community is so accessible.  You can pretty easily get in touch with any elite runner out there, can often find out where they will be racing or doing a book signing and go there, and because of that can often talk to or meet the person who has inspired you to do so much more than you thought you ever could. 

A great gift in that accessibility is that we, as mere humble runners, can thank someone that has inspired us.  And that is a very personal thing!  Dean Karnazes is someone that helped push me from running road marathons to ultra trail races.  His endurance, positive attitude, and willingness to open up about his passion (while being a natural introvert) motivated me to do push further, and at the same time tell people about what I was doing.  That's a priceless piece of inspiration to me, and I was lucky enough a few years ago to meet Dean on a few different occasions.  I was very excited to finally be able to tell him, the man that I would think of is the darkest times of my running to help push me through, that he was my inspiration, and how grateful I was for that.

I was running with Dean towards the end of a group run that was coordinated by a local North Face store, and I was able to get out the words of appreciation for doing all that he does, and how he inspired me to push further in my own running.  His response was a simple 'thank you', and then quickly asked me a question about Madison.  Yes, my compliment was acknowledged, but it didn't quite give me the satisfaction I was looking for.  I mean, for a few years this man is what mentally pushed me to bring my A game, run further than I ever thought I could, and be much more open with my friends and athletes with something that I previously held close as incredibly personal. 

I didn't think much about that interaction again until yesterday. I was running with a friend of mine who is training for her second marathon.  She's only been running a few years, but is working hard on increasing her endurance while having fun, involving her friends, and is very mindful and open about the positive role running plays in her life.  We were in the second half of our long run when she told me that I was an inspiration of hers to push herself further when she was running.  It was such a nice compliment that I didn't expect at all, and I, like Dean had done to me, said a brief 'thank you' and wanted to quickly change the subject.

I see many runners (and people in general) brush off or even deflect compliments, especially ones that are meaningful - not just a 'you look nice today' or 'cute dress' compliment.  By nature I think we as runners are just humble, hard working people that are more than happy to do our hardest work in the darkness of night, by ourselves, away from being the center of any sort of attention.  But the reality is that our hard work is not unnoticed.  One of my favorite quotes is 'Work hard in silence, let success make the noise.'  And that 'noise' inspires people around us without our even knowing. 

So next time someone comes up to you, or sends you an email or text to tell you how much of an inspiration you are to them, acknowledge that.  Thank them for the compliment and even ask them a question to expand further.  It is an important moment for them to tell you something that personal and genuine, so do your best to accept it and be gracious.  It is hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I can inspire anyone to do anything - after all, I'm just a runner.  But we are a community of people that are fueled by the way we are inspired by each other, and I think that's pretty awesome.