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Back to Jerry Dunn, America's Marathon Man
America's Marathon Man - Jerry Dunn
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WE STILL RUN
If you’ve come to this website, you undoubtedly are a marathon runner. Given that fact, I will assume that you know what a blessing it is to be able to run. Not only to run 26.2 on race day, but to be able to get outside on all those morning "training" runs. The 4 milers, the 10 milers, those long runs on weekends... either alone, or with your running buddies. And now that Spring is approaching, and new life is popping up all around us, the feeling of thankfulness sometimes just overwhelms me. I am not only thankful to be running, but grateful that there is still an order to the world in which we live. And just as I can count on the seasons to change, I can also count on running to remind me how I fit into the "flow of life".
My ability and desire to run has done many things for me in the last 26 years. And one of those things is that it HAS brought order, and a sense of continuity to my journey.
As the world around me changes at a breakneck speed; as I try to maintain a balance in my life; as time marches forward with little regard for the wake it leaves behind... we still run. The stock market takes a dive. March Madness begins. Political leaders change. Dotcoms disappear... we still run. Earthquakes rearrange our landscape. Floods destroy our buildings and kill some of our brothers and sisters. Our children are threatened, even murdered in our schools... we still run.
Running is our time to be alone. Our time to consider how and what we are going to do to cope with life around us. Running brings us peace of mind. Running allows us to be successful at something. Running reminds us that we are but one person moving through this world, and that we can choose our own path.
Shakespeare said it best, in Julius Caesar: "bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible". I don't know about you, but when I finish a marathon, or get back from a few miles on my favorite neighborhood route, or cool down after a track workout, I can see what Shakespeare was talking about. I may not have placed in my age group, or run a PR, or even pushed myself to my limits, but what I have done is get out there and run... again. And in so doing, I have accomplished something that at one point in my life did seem "impossible." Also, I have once again proven to myself that I AM, in fact, in charge of my life. That I DO have what it takes to call myself a runner. That I CAN count myself among those who are taking responsibility for keeping themselves fit. And that after I shower, put on my "civilian" clothes, and step back into the "real" world, I can take a sense of accomplishment with me, wherever I go. Take the knowledge that I may not be able to control the entirety of my life... but, I can still run... and to me, that says volumes about who I am, and the way I'm choosing to live my life.
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