My family runs. It’s not something that makes sense to a whole lot of people. Sometimes it especially does not to me. We all run, but probably not for the same reasons. We all bring our challenges, fears, inhibitions, and struggles out there to run. I don’t think I could tell you exactly why each of us run, I think that for all of us it may be something visceral, bordering on spiritual depending on who you ask. I don’t know exactly. But I can do my best. One thing I that I think I can put my finger on, one reason I know for sure why we all run, is because we can.
Troy, my older brother, the most genuinely affable and undoubtedly oldest 25-year-old that I know, he runs because he can. Being a pastor, I know for sure that for him, it is a deeply spiritual exercise. He has run casually, competitively and run some marathons for years. But Troy has been a runner for longer than most. Troy was born around 4-5 weeks premature. He was small, had eye problems and leg problems. Most notably, he had cerebral palsy. From a very young age up until around the 5th grade, the congenital disorder forced him to wear braces on his legs. He could hardly walk. He’s not one for settling, and the first place he ran was toward that adversity. He ran until he could.
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My Dad, Tim, he runs because he can. He just turned 58-years-old, and if he is not getting faster, slowing down must be very relative. He ran his first marathon on his 30th birthday. Unknowing of the legacy it may catalyze, he ran, because he could. 28 years, two kids, six houses, and more than two dozen marathons later- he is still running. People expect him to slow down, to stop, but while he can, he will run.
My step-mother, Pat, she runs because she can. She ran so hard that it she developed a sports induced a chronic asthma. That asthma has threatened to halt her pace, but she runs. Right now, in her 60’s, if you ask her, she might describe it as a walk, but I can attest that her walk is a run to most.
So why do I run? I suppose because I can. Sometimes I don’t know. I haven’t been running nearly as long as any of them and I haven’t faced down nearly the challenges that they have. But when I’m out there and I run, it makes sense. I can be there with myself. Troy likes to say that it helps him accept. Accept his body and accept the place that he is in at the moment. I’d have to agree. But beneath all of that, I definitely run because I can, and it this point, I’m not sure I could stop. How could I? My family runs.
