A Story

 Once upon a time, there was a girl. She was not athletic. In fact, she hated sports. She was not popular. She was not pretty. She was smart. She knew the answers when the other kids didn’t. Something happened to the girl when she was in her fifth decade. She suddenly decided to try running. It made her lungs burn. It made her legs ache. She couldn’t get very far, but she kept at it. Sometimes she said to herself, “I hate running!” Sometimes she said it out loud, “I hate running!”  She still kept at it. She entered her first 5K and, although it was hard and she wasn’t that fast, she was hooked. She ran another and another and another. She tested her own limits and tried a 10K. She amazed herself that she finished and didn’t throw up!

After a year of running short races, the crazy notion of trying a half marathon crept into her brain. She tried to ignore it, but it wouldn’t go away. Could she make it? Could she finish? The questions nagged her and so she trained for it. She ran and she ran and she ran. She ran when it was cold outside. She ran when it was hot outside. She just kept running. Even if the run was hard, the way she felt when it was over was hard to describe. She felt happy and accomplished and at peace. These were not things that this girl usually felt.

The years went by and the races she ran added up to dozens. Sometimes she ran fast and sometimes she ran like a snail. It didn’t matter because the feeling at the end was always the same - wonderful. The rack in her workout room was full of medals she had received. Sometimes she looked them over and still marveled that a girl like her, smart, not athletic, had accomplished so much. Silly things, those medals, but for this girl, they may as well have been diamonds. They were precious to her.

Sometimes she got aches and pains. Sometimes there were injuries. These were the times, when she could not run, that she was reminded how much she loved to run, how much she needed it to stay grounded and sane in her crazy world. She always whispered a little prayer of thanksgiving for her ability to run, injury free and healthy. She meant every word.

Most stories that start with, “Once upon a time…” usually end with, “And she lived happily ever after.”

This story, however, must end with “to be continued…” God willing…