I hesitate to post the following blog because it may sound as if I am bragging to you. However, given the slight chance that I may inspire someone with my running story, I’ve decided to take the chance and share the following story.
Have you ever heard the term, “frustrated athlete”? I must admit, for years this was me. Rarely, if ever, did I place while on my high school track team. I constantly suffered from shin splints, or I’d get so nervous that I would false start and disqualify, or I would be afraid that my lunch would not stay down during those afternoon track meets. That experience, however, never stopped me from continuing to run. In fact, I have always loved to run and having been doing it for the past 30 years!
Call me a late bloomer, but finally in my mid-forty’s I have become a competitive runner (although, admittedly, just for my age group). In all the 5Ks that I have ran over the past 10 years, I have been able to place in the top 4 in my age category. Although I’ve always felt good about my results, in April of 2010, at the last minute I decided to run the 5K YMCA “Run for Kids” and I was shocked by the outcome.
It was a terribly windy morning, and I don’t like running in the wind, but I decided to register anyway. I think I was motivated because the race is for an excellent cause – the money that is raised goes towards scholarships for kids who cannot afford a membership at the Y. Anyhow, to my delight, I won first place in my age group for that race and I was awarded a trophy. A trophy! Now while for many people this might not seem like anything, this trophy was the first trophy that I had ever received in my life and I was 43! Though the trophy is just a plastic object that many children receive for every sport they participate in these days…to me, it meant that it is never too late to achieve something!
