I have a friend at work who is what I'd call an avid amateur athlete. He's older than me by a few years, but you'd never know it. He runs marathons, triathlons, ironmans (I so want to say the plural of ironman is ironmen). He eats a lot of Cliff bars. He recently completed that Tuff Mudder thing where you had to go through the electrical wires and fire pit.
He doesn't just work out. He actually trains.
And for as long as I can remember, he's done this. He's always taken workout clothes to trade shows ... which I used to find odd. In fact, I once I bet him that he couldn't run the stairs at Disneyland (if you've been there, you know what I'm talking about) in one fell swoop, under a now-forgotten amount of time. He did. I bought beer.
In other words, he's fit and it's an important part of his life.
He swung by my office a few days ago to see how the Dirty Girl went. And to talk about his upcoming climb of Mt. Rainer.
Do you get the irony in that last sentence? He's climbing a dang mountain at 50-years-old-plus and he wanted to know how my silly 5K went.
Isn't that cool?
Support from people who understand what you're doing and why is so impactful. I had no idea at the beginning of this whole thing that there was a whole community of people who "get it" and who would be supportive of me in my quest for "it."
I appreciate them, and you, all.
3 comments:
I just learned this at my training group this past week. A person that is doing the Ironman this weekend talked about how the first run, the first swim and every workout is a challenge but that we keep getting out there and doing it will always be worth it.
In "trying" to become a runner....I have found that fellow runners are SOOO supportive. My accomplishments seem to be a bigger deal to them than myself. Very cool to have a support network!
I second what GaryAllanFan says. And also the thought that other runners look at me as a runner more than I do myself. The support is unbelievable. So GaryAllanFan... We ARE runners. We aren't trying to be!
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