Show some respect...and get f*cking inspired!

I have a friend who, in my eyes, is an utterly amazing athlete. She is running Boston in a few weeks and is shooting for sub-3 hours. She is also an amazingly inspiring person, not only because she does amazing things, but as a friend she is incredibly encouraging. I am reposting something a friend of hers posted and I will now be reconsidering some of the language I use when I describe her.


Most notably:

"I’m not a freak of nature. It’s taken me a long a** time and a lot of hard work to get here. People think I’m just a natural runner and naturally fast. That’s not fair to me to say that because it sort of negates all those workouts I did where my legs ached, my body was exhausted, and I wanted to quit because it hurt… It negates the sacrifice and the social life I gave up in order to get here. If it all came naturally to me I’d be racing marathons at a sub 2:30 pace by now."

...and also...

"Look at your most recent races and the challenges you faced — you still PRed. You wanted it. You did it, regardless. You want it. You do it, regardless."

First of all, I can identify with the freak of nature comment. From my perspective, some of the things she does seem freakish, but that's only because I haven't done them(yet?). I also know that many of my friends might hold the same opinion of me, because I have done things that seem freakish to them. None of them were easy for me either, but I have always tried to make it clear to my friends that all of these things are possible with hard work and belief in oneself.

Second, it really is true that we can do anything if we want it. Sometimes we need to be reminded of this, and my amazing friend is always willing to remind me.