The idea for this blog, and my goal of raising $5,000 for the National MS Society, were conceived during a 20 mile training run for my first marathon. Here I will simultaneously chronicle my experience living with MS for the past decade and my marathon training progress.
Help me reach my goal!

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Lessons Learned

October 29th, 2012: Yesterday, Steve and I participated in a 5K benefit run for MS.  Being close to Halloween, there were many people in costume wandering around.  Before the race started I noticed a girl in 80's style workout gear who looked strikingly like the younger sister of a friend and cross-country teammate from high school.  Maybe that primed me to be thinking of my first races, long before I had any clue that MS would someday affect my mobility, but as the race began the course was like a flashback.  It started on paved road, but quickly veered off onto grassy and sometimes muddy fields.  As it looped around one field and the onto the next, I was reminded of many fall 5K races with the Saranac Lake cross country team.
*cue flashback sound effects*

Sometime during the summer of 1994:  My brother, Luke, had been running cross country for 2 years and was enjoying the sport.  He also saw that while the boys team was small, the girls team was miniscule.  There were only 2 girls on the team, not even close the the minimum of 5 needed to compete as a team.  He knew that I am completely uncoordinated and had no chance of succeeding in most sports, but he thought I could probably run.  My parents had measured out distances on our road and with Luke pushing me, I ran a mile with him.  His encouraging words convinced me that I should give cross country a try, so I joined the team as a modified runner.  Another friend, whose brother ran on the varsity team, decided to join and we started training with the team in August.  

Fall 1995:  Perhaps word got out about the talented (and rather cute) boys team, maybe it was the beginning of a running boom, but the next year 4 more girls joined the team.  Partway into the season, along with several other girls, I switched from running modified (1.5 mile races) to competing at the varsity level.  Finally we had a girls team that could actually compete!  There were exactly 7 of us, just barely a full team!  By some miracle, we made it to the state meet that year along with the boys team.  We didn't stand a chance at doing well at that level of competition, but it was amazing watching the boys team win the State Championship!  

Fall 1999:   By my last year of cross country, the team had grown quite large.  The talent pool was deep and, while I was no longer a scoring member during most meets, I enjoyed training and competing with such a large group of like-minded runners.  The comaraderie of the team was one of the few things I would miss about high school.  

Some of the members of our team have gone on to do great things athletically. Quite a few have competed professionally in various sports, and some have represented the USA in the Olympics (even bringing home the Gold in one case).  While I have neither the talent nor the ambition to achieve that level of athleticism, training with such supportive people and high caliber athletes taught me a few things that I have carried with me:

1: Never give up.  There are bound to be setbacks and disappointments in life.  Learn from them, pick yourself up and keep going.   

2: A positive attitude is an invaluable tool.  Always focus on the positive, the silver lining to bad situations.  By not dwelling on the negative, you are free to enjoy life to the fullest extent possible. 

3:  Stick together.  Surround yourself with positive people who will be there for you when you are at your worst.  Be there for them and they will be there for you.

October 29th, 2012: It turns out that the girl was, in fact, the younger sister of my old friend and teammate.  After the race we reminisced about the old cross country course (she had joined the team the year after I graduated), and our coaches.  Here we both were, many years later, both still running.  I hope, 10 years from now, I'll still be running.


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