The Freakishly Flexible 5K

After I signed up for my first marathon, I found my self spending a lot of time thinking about running and training. I started looking for running blogs so I could hear other people's stories and hopefully learn something along the way. One of the first blogs I happened upon was Non-Runner Nancy's. I enjoy and admire so many things about her blog. I love her attitude towards running. She is always positive and approaches things with a playful attitude. I admire her support and enthusiasm for others. I enjoy reading about her virtual races and am always amazed by how they bring the whole blog/running community together.

In Nancy's last post, she talks about why she can't run anymore and what that loss means to her. There were two things that she said that made me stop and re-read them. The first was, "I'm mourning the lessons of being so bad and having to remain positive and everything it taught me." This statement struck very close to home for me. So many times I've talked to my kids about why running means so much to me even though I'm so slow. We've talked about how you can have a passion for something even if you are not the best at it, and that there are so many things in life to learn and they don't all come through doing something well. I've hoped many times that they won't be afraid to try something just because they might look silly or fail. Having to remain positive and motivated in the face of mediocrity and injury is a test that a lot of us runners have faced.

The other thing Nancy wrote was, "I learned how to run my own race, something so valuable in every day life." I can list so many reasons why I named this blog "Running My Own Race", too many to get into right now. The fact that someone else mentioned it as something they learned through running made me smile.

In homage to Nancy, USJogger is hosting The Freakishly Flexible 5K on Valentine's Day. Everyone will race in honor of Nancy and post their results and love for her. I'm planning on running an actual race for my virtual race, The Valentine's 5K. I'm sad that the first virtual race that I get to blog about is one that is in honor of Nancy instead of one in which she is running. I'm glad, however, that she started something that I can share in and show her my gratitude. I'm sure she'll find a new avenue for her humor and enthusiasm and hopefully she will share that ongoing story with us.