Pick Your Own Pace and Keep on Going

My favorite runner is Prefontaine. He was controversial because he was a world-class runner, who believed that it didn’t take talent to win. He said that the reason no one could ever beat him was simply because he could withstand more pain. That was it. If a race came down to his heart vs. someone else’s talent, he would always win.

His coach and others insisted it was talent and training. They tried to convince him that if he ran his guts out the whole way he would never have enough to go the distance. Prefontaine believed that if he wasn’t giving his all the whole time he wasn’t running a truthful race.

Although he did learn eventually to pace himself, he never really changed. That was who he was until the end.

That is who we are parents, grandparents and friends running this weekend. We will be successful because we can withstand the pain to see it through. And that applies to running the marathon and living with Duchenne.

We put aside our own fear, pain, and discomfort for our children. And for our beliefs.