When I tell people about some of the endurance events, they begin to tell me how they could never do that, how hard it must be, how much time I must have had to give up to get there and then there are times where they tell me that they are not strong enough to do what I do. I want to grab them and look them in the eyes and tell them the truth, they are and you are.
What you have to know is the truth. I am not all that strong, I get frustrated, I get pissed off, I lose my way, I get off track and there are times when I just give up. I have lost faith in myself to believe that I could accomplish what I have set out to do. The truth is, I am weak, I am vulnerable and I fall short a lot more than most of you will know. Now there is another thing that you need to know, none of this really matters because of the people I run for. It is because of them that I can endure the pain, training and frustration that goes into accomplishing my goals.
I tell you these things not because I want your sympathy or because I do not like myself but because you all need to know this. That if I can do such "crazy" things you can as well. There is nothing that makes me greater than anyone else.
Here are just a few of my many highlights of what I can do with the power of other people.
I did a 50 mile road race in Door County, WI. I ran for a young man named Bo Johnson who I never had the pleasure of meeting and yet he was with me the whole time. Bo passed away from Cancer at the age of 13 which was not enough time for the world but enough time for Bo to impact the world. In his final days instead of giving up on life, he gave life everything. He inspired thousands of people to act in kindness and be a bright light even at the world's darkest moments. I continue to run for not only him but his mother Annika as well. Cancer took the most precious thing away from her that anyone could ever imagine, her son. Many people would become bitter, angry, mad and start to hate the world and then there is Annika. A women that chose to continue Bo's legacy of going out and making the world a better place and inspiring and acting with kindness. She is in the corner of anyone that has battled cancer or is battling cancer. She is overjoyed when she hears about people overcoming cancer. I know that as much as Bo has taught her and has inspired her, she did the same for Bo and always had this passion in her.
In 2014 I completed Ironman Wisconsin with two of my best friends, Aaron Hunnel and Katie Neuman. Katie has CP so Aaron and I were lucky enough to be able to be her arms and legs that day. When I tell people this, their response usually is a compliment about how selfless I am, and while I appreciate it, it needs to be known that it was not as selfless as it seems. Katie had just as much to do with crossing the finish line that day as Aaron and I did. Katie kept Aaron and I going the whole time, in fact she did such an amazing job that the whole day was an amazing adventure. That day we swam, biked and ran not only for Katie who is amazing, inspiring, relentless and positive beyond measure but for everyone to provide hope. Katie is bound to a wheel chair pretty much every second of her life. She is not there because of some choice that she made or that her parents made but just because of bad luck and yet Katie is one of the happiest and positive people you will ever meet. She gets life and what it really means to live.
Later in 2014 I ran an indoor 12 hour treadmill run to help raise money for pediatric cancer research and to provide scholarships for pediatric cancer patients. To most runners, including myself the treadmill is not our best friend. Telling people about this event, many of them said they would never even think about doing that and yet when I put it into perspective of the kids and families we ran for, it really is not that bad. On that run I thought a lot about what it would be like to know that your child is battling cancer and how heartbreaking that would be. To know that no matter how much you try and how hard you fight the odds are not in your favor. I thought about the kids who never asked to sign up for a disease that is trying to kill them. The fact that many of them are not even in high school and most people's definition of their age, they would have no understanding of what life is really about and yet they do. They understand life more than 99% of this world ever will. They live when they are being told to die.
As I tell people about my future plans, I once again am given support and at the same time I am asked the question of "Why would you ever want to do that" or the statement of "That sounds like it would suck." What I want you all to know is that why it may suck it is one million times easier and better than everything that the people I run for have to deal with. The pain I feel is temporary and the pain of the people I run for never really goes away and yet they live and inspire people beyond measure.
If you want to be inspired, stop running for yourself and start running for someone else. This applies to life just like it does running, stop living for yourself and start living for something greater, If for no other reason than the simple fact that if you do everything for yourself, your legacy dies when you do but even if you spend one minute investing in something greater than yourself, you live forever.
