THE RACE THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

Possibly every one of us has experienced a defining moment in our running.  It may have been when we reached the conclusion: "I am a runner", "This is going to be my life-style" or "I am not going to be a couch potato any more"; but for some reason that moment lives in your memory even today.  You look back and marvel at how your life was before.  You wonder how you could ever be satisfied with that kind of life again.  In that sense, the defining moment has changed your life.

The special race for me happened on February 25, 1995.  It was the Cowtown 10K; and I came in 2nd with a time of 48/04.  It was one of the greatest races of my life; but for some very strange reasons.  It was not my fastest time.  It was only second place; but I remember it as being special.  Oddly, I didn't even recognize it at the time.  It is only by looking back that I see it in proper perspective.  It is only from that viewpoint that I can see what it has meant in my life.

Let me take you back a ways: I never ran on a team in high school or college.  I began a jogging program in my early 40s for health reasons, when a goal of 12 minute miles was the going thing.  Not where you started, mind you; but the goal.  I slowly progressed from being ashamed for anyone seeing me running, to visiting high school tracks at odd hours when no one was around.  For a lot of years, two mile was considered a long run.

After coming to Fort Worth in 1980 I gradually began to add a little distance. Sometimes I ran with others. Sometimes I would start a quarter mile behind and follow runners that I didn't know. A few times I even ventured into races; but never more than one or two a year.  I didn't want to be a jogger; but I was not really a runner either.

Late in 1994 I was about as low in spirit as I could get.  I was struggling with my running; but not improving.  My motivation was way, way down.  BUT I had just turned 65; and with a new age group, wanted to give it one more shot.  I determined, therefore, to prepare for cowtown; and then quit.  I didn't make a firm decision about not jogging in the park anymore; but I didn't intend to press for time and distance again.  That commitment, as flimsy is it was, kept me running at least.  That is the condition I was in as I approached the cowtown race of 1995.

Have you ever fished for hours without a nibble? Then, just before you gave up in disgust, a big one hit your line? If so, you know that as long as they were biting, you were hooked. Only darkness could drive you home.

That is the way this one race was for me.  Second place? Number 773 overall? What did it matter? I HAD CAUGHT A FISH! Ten days later I had joined Luke's training group from the store; and I was on my way.  Quickly, I became associated with the Fort Worth Running Club; and those two things proved to be my salvation.  I was no longer trying to do it all by myself.  I was a part of a fellowship of runners who were struggling together.  By the time the year was over I had run 35 races; and only then did I begin to look back and see what that one race (and it's aftermath) had done to my life.

Since that defining moment in 1995, I have run 330 races and close to 7,000 miles; but I still remember it as being a turning point.  If I had done poorly in that one race, my entire future might have been different. It would also have been different were it not for the help and encouragement of so many better runners in the months that followed.  I remember, even now, many of those who kept we going through those difficult times.  Is it any wonder that I feel so grateful to the running community? I simply could not pay back what I owe.

Your defining event may have been very different from mine; but I feel sure that you had one. Your memory of it is probably just as vivid as mine. If so, your gratitude should be just as great. So the question is, what are we giving back? Are we doing for others what has been done for us? Thinking about that for just a little while should have us looking for a volunteer list to get on! You have had your precious moment.  You have become a runner. Now show your appreciation in every way you can.