Welcome to Wednesday Word, a weekly linkup for everyone, not just health and fitness bloggers.

Each Wednesday you will have a single word prompt to write about.  Let your imagination run free and share with your readers your interpretation of that word, or simply use it as inspiration for your post.

Today’s word is perseverance……  I’d love to have you link up, and if you do, please remember to follow my six simple rules.

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Perseverance – steadfastness in doing something
despite difficulty or delay in achieving success…

“Let us run with perseverance the race that is marked out for us.”
~Hebrews 12:1

 

Today is National Running Day, and what better day than today to talk about running and perseverance. I’ve coached many runners over the years.  Some have persevered.  Some haven’t.  I’d like to focus on the ones who have…

My first opportunity to coach was with the National AIDS Marathon Training Program.  I took approximately 125 self-described couch potatoes (I preferred to call them running newbies) from a life of very little exercise to completing the Marine Corps Marathon.  In addition to completing a 26-week program to prepare them physically to run a marathon, they had to raise $1,600 for the Whitman-Walker Clinic – money be used for AIDS research.

On the morning of our first run, about 150 excited and nervous people gather around me for instructions on what to expect for the next 26 weeks.  They came in all shapes and sizes, and shared a common denominator of wanting to run a marathon while helping to raise money for AIDS research.  Each runner had a different story for why they were there.  Some had been personally touched by AIDS, and others were there for a friend or neighbor.

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Throughout the summer, runners fought blisters, shin splints, knee pain, heat, humidity, and difficult fund raising efforts, yet had the perseverance to continue their training toward the biggest athletic adventure of their lives. 

Week after week they met me in Maryland to run through Rock Creek Park and the surrounding areas.  We used Jeff Galloway’s Run Walk Run training method to cover the miles needed to prepare for 26.2 miles in late October.  Most stuck with the program and eagerly met me each Sunday morning. 

On October 25th their tenacity and persistence paid off, and 125 runners crossed the biggest finish lines of their lives.  Not only had they just run 26.2 miles, but they had raised money for AIDS research through their determination and perseverance.

Today when I’m running races in DC, I still see some of those runners I coached 17 years ago.  They’ve persevered and turned being a couch potato into being a bona fide runner, and I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of them!

 

Tell me about a time when your perseverance paid off.

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Deb Runs



Next Wednesday’s Word:  Motivation