The summer before my
Sophomore year I started running with my dad in the morning. He asked me if I
wanted to do a 10k with him on the 24th
of July (Utah’s pioneer day). He had made the effort to prepare for this race a
few years in the past and had done it before. I asked him how many miles it was
because at that point I had no clue what a 10K was. I said, “sure.” I did
pretty good at waking up and going running. My dad was faster than me. Well, he
was faster than me until my little brother (9 years old at the time) decided
that he wanted to do the race also. My dad would stay back and run with him. I
did a 5K on the 4th of July with my dad and brother. My friend who
is very good at running did it too. After finishing the race I realized that
these events were a lot of fun. I liked the idea that a bunch of people got
together and ran and cheered for each other. There was also free food at the
end which is always a plus. I got a little more excited to run the 10K a few
weeks later. When the 10K rolled around I ran it and did fairly well for a
first time runner. I finished in my goal time and didn’t stop running the
entire race so I felt like I had done my very best. After that I began talking
to some people and friends who were runners and they encouraged me to join my
school’s cross country team. So by the end of the summer I was a part of the
team and had practiced with them and pushed myself and improved a lot.
Naturally after I
picked up the hobby I started to be more aware of other’s running when I saw
them. Driving by runners I started to wonder how far they have ran. All sorts
of people are out running: young and old, fit and not-so-fit. It is interesting
that all of these people are running different lengths and different speeds and
for different reasons. Running isn’t necessarily enjoyable but as I had discovered
running can give you a sense of achievement. I think we can apply this to how
we see others.
As we come to
understand that we all have very different “health conditions” in life we will
be able to be much more understanding of people. “Heath conditions” may
include: a broken family, a mental or physical illness, financial instability
or any trial. We all run at different speeds because we are all in much
different shape. We all move through life differently because we all have
different situations.
I have experienced
health conditions both literally and figuratively. I faced muscles spasms and
other problems that made it very hard to run. I have also watched my best
friend face depression which has pushed her to her limits mentally. Trials like
these cause us to slow down our “running” through life significantly. Next time
your drive buy a person who seems like they should be in good shape struggling
to run you might realize that they could be on their twenty-sixth mile for all
you know. Maybe the person who seems to have an easy life is actually going
through a lot that people don’t know about. You never know a person’s
situations or “health conditions” so we should all strive to be a little less judgmental
and a little more understanding. After all, it's the slowest runners who need the most motivation.
