"The real purpose of running isn't to win a race, it's to test the limits of the human heart" -Bill Bowerman
Fall weather is perfect for so many reasons. It's perfect for Friday night high school football, where the weather is just cool enough to warrant a big and warm pot of chili at almost every tailgate. It's perfect for sweaters, cardigans, and your favorite pair of jeans that you've been stowing away since last spring. But it's also perfect for running. It's weather that's cool enough that you can run without passing out from heat exhaustion, but also not be running through piles of snow. Personally, I've always hated running. In volleyball, we run for punishment. So I've never had the desire to run by choice, or at least I hadn't until this past summer. And there is one reason why running went from being one thing I hate to being something that I actually enjoy. And that one reason is because I finally had a bigger purpose to my running.
Some people would say that there are many reasons to start running, such as losing weight or just, in general, becoming more athletic or healthier. However, this is something we all know and yet, it still doesn't work for a majority of people. Saying people should do something simply because it is healthier is not enough incentive. If it was, then McDonald's and every other fast food restaurant would not be prospering as much as they are. People need something bigger than just that it's healthy and typically, it helps if that something is personal to them. I know that I am not alone in my dread for running. My whole family is pretty expressive when it comes to our negative feelings toward anything faster than a brisk walk. As one of my uncles put it, we only run if it's running to the dinner table. But this past year, we all found our something and that was my Aunt Jeanne.
My Aunt Jeanne was a mom to three sometimes gross, but always hilarious, and kindhearted boys. She was like a second mom to the many first graders that she taught on the north side of Indianapolis. And she was married to one goofy, but also a strong and faith-filled man that I am lucky to call my Uncle. She was patient, caring, selfless, and she was one hell of a good runner. She started running a few years ago and since then, it has grown to be one of her favorite hobbies. She was running as much as she could and was taking down races like it was her job. Until about a year ago, when she started a race that would push her harder and farther than any race ever has. She started her race with cancer.
My Aunt Jeanne's battle with cancer was both aggressive and persistent. For her, it seemed like more of a race against time, rather than a race to a cure. Knowing the direction you are heading doesn't make the end result any less shocking or any less heartbreaking. She fought for ten long months until she crossed her final finish line on June 16th, 2016. Losing someone like her shook up many people to their core. But in the month before my Aunt ended her journey, her family and friends all over the country began one that they would not soon forget.
We all wanted to help in any way, but we weren't sure how. Until one of my Aunt's co-workers and running buddies began a Facebook group called Miles For Jeanne with a simple goal; Try to run 100 miles in the month of June and for every mile you run, donate 10 cents to a fundraiser that would help my aunt and her boys. Although the group started with the goal of raising some money to help my Aunt's family, the donations ended up just being a bonus to the love and support that came out of it. In order to keep track of everyone's miles, all we had to do was post in the group how many miles we had done that day and my Aunt's friend would keep a log for everyone. But it didn't take long for it to become more than just posting one's miles. It turned into posts about the love, inspiration, and gratitude that we all had for my Aunt Jeanne. And that's all any of us really wanted to give her in the first place.
My Aunt taught so many students and had an impact on more lives than she could count. But the biggest impact she had was on our crazy bunch. She got our whole family, who I have to reiterate hates running, to get up and start moving. Suddenly, we were all running our hearts out. I had never run for longer than 3 miles before this group started. But one morning in June, I ran five miles and I have never felt better than I did in that moment. And if I think I hate running, then my Mom absolutely loathes it with her whole being. But after we started this group for my Aunt, she also found her own groove walking and was even in charge of a group of my family members that walked in the St. Francis Cancer walk about a month ago. Running became so much easier and even more enjoyable for me because I had a reason to keep going. Every time that I wanted to stop, I would think about all the times that my Aunt Jeanne would have liked to stop chemotherapy. Or I think about the times she wanted to stop going to doctors appointments. I remember that I have a choice and she didn't. And that keeps me going.
When it comes to doing things that are out of your comfort zone or are just things that you don't like, you have to find something bigger than yourself to keep you going. I tried to get myself to like running for years and I know the rest of my family was the same way, but wanting to do it just wasn't enough for us. We needed a why and now we have that. Simply facts are that running is healthy for you and it will give you both a happier and a longer life. But you have to find something or someone that motivates you because that is what will keep you moving forward when all you want to do is quit. I run because my Aunt Jeanne can't anymore. I have the choice. And I feel like it is my responsibility to take that choice and make my life as happy and as full of love as I possibly can because I know that's what she would have wanted. So the question you have to ask yourself isn't whether or not you want to run, but why you will or will not run. Once you have found your "why," then all that's left to do is tie up your running shoes and don't look back.
#milesforjeanne #loveforjeanne #noonefightsalone #keepfighting #keeprunning
