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I run because I can
Originally appeared on spirituality.com
Years ago I set a marathon course record—I ran the Atlantic City Marathon in 3 hours 12 minutes, winning the masters’ race (women over 40) and finishing third among all women.
As I look back, it’s clear that this didn’t just happen. It was a competitive race, and I recall training long and hard for it. And in the end all those hours on the road paid off. I had lowered my personal best by 12 minutes and emerged a winner. But winning races was never my motivation for running.
I’ve been running pretty much every day for more than 35 years. For most of those years, my running has been a private, early morning activity. I don’t talk about it. I just go out and do it. Even during the 15 or so years when I was competing, I ran mainly for the joy of running. I liked to run, simple as that. Racing and winning trophies were just icing on the cake for me. It was the daily activity of running that I loved, and still do—hitting the road day after day, without regard for expected limits.
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