The origin story.  A great foil for a movie plot.  Especially one that wasn’t expected to that great.  Tell how the hero or villain came to be AND make some money??!! Count me in.  Each runner has an way that they came to be a runner too.  This might be one of my favorite topics of conversation on the long run or around the pre-race dinner table.  How did you figure out that this silly, simple pursuit was something you were interested in?

With stories as unique as each person, the arrival of each person at the literal, or even just metaphorical, starting line is a wonderful tale.  Weight loss.  Peer pressure. Sick of a certain lifestyle.  Getting in shape for another activity.  Tried a race as a kid.

For me it was the old Presidential Fitness Test.  Wasn’t that great at most of the skills.  Shuttle run?  Too slow on the turn around.  Pull-ups?  Too big for my upper body to handle.  Sit and reach?  Forget about it.  But that mile run?  It just clicked.  The effort and the burn.  The success.  The fact that it was all on you. What a feeling!!

Sometimes you have a rebirth part way through your running career.  you find a different style of running.  A new way to pursue your passion.  Then you have a totally different story to share with people.  You grow and become a new type of runner.  Embracing different challenges and goals.

As I tell my high school kids, running is not complicated.  But it can be hard. When it gets hard, remember where you got your start.  School yard, driveway, road, track, trail.  Before you got where you are, it took that first step.