Still Running (weakly). Issue 77

PAST – inspiration – “We recommend amputating his legs,” said the doctors, after Glenn Cunningham, eight years old, had been badly burned in an explosion, which killed his brother Floyd. His parents wouldn’t allow it. Told he might never even walk normally again, he nevertheless went on to become America’s premier miler of the 1930s, winning 1500 silver at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games.

Wilma Rudolph (also US) suffered many childhood illnesses, including pneumonia, scarlet fever and polio. She wore a leg brace until she was 12. Physically challenged but never mentally defeated, she worked hard at sports, until she won 100, 200 and 4x100 gold medals at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

Murray Halberg (NZ) was a rugby player in his youth, until he suffered a serious injury, leaving him with a withered left arm. The next year, motivated by his disability, he took up running, eventually winning the 5000 in those 1960 Olympics with a bold sprint 3 laps from home. It was said that, mentally and physically, he seemed to be made of barbed wire!

PRESENT – perspiration – In Cunningham, Rudolph and Halberg, ‘weakness’ gave birth to strength; challenges bred a taste for overcoming them; and what society viewed as flaws brought forth superpowers. My own childhood stutter forced me to express myself not in speaking, but in writing, which continues to this day. When I did have to talk, I mentally ran through each sentence, scanning ahead for words I might not be able to ‘get out,’ changing them for a synonym that I could. I became a walking, occasionally talking, thesaurus – again, not bad grounding for a writer.

But the stutter had a deeper effect on me than just enhancing my verbal dexterity. I think, for obvious reasons, it made me face challenges – even putting myself in the way of unnecessary ones – entering verse-speaking competitions, volunteering to give speeches or host networking events. And it made me determined to never give up.

Which is useful in an ultrarunner!

FUTURE – suggestion – What spurs you on? What is the grit in your oyster that produces your pearl? What challenges have given you your superpower? I promise you: you do have one. It could be something specific in the past. It could be inspiration from somebody famous or just someone you know. It could be as simple as wanting to surprise those around you – and yourself.

Kenny Moore, 4th in the 1972 Olympic marathon, said: “The enduring satisfaction of distance running ….. lies in knowing that you learned how to be brave and to do something better than you first thought you could, and perhaps in knowing that you amazed a few people along the way.”

Wherever our power in running – or in anything in life – springs from, it is good to remind ourselves from time to time just how far we have come, what obstacles we’ve crossed or shaken off along the way, and what our younger selves might make of our present incarnation.