Check here for previous articles and stories.
Go here for a complete list of running links.
My thanks to Don for sharing this story with me. The reasons for running are as varied as the runners are themselves. Enjoy!
by Don Niederfrank
I'm a late-blooming athlete. I was never athletic at all until about 13 years ago when I started biking. I wasn't in terrible shape, but if I perspired it was only from the heat. Gradually, I started cycling with my wife because she wanted to build up some stamina. She was pregnant with our second child and thought it would be good preparation for herself.
Personally, I don't see the similarities between cycling and child birth. Maybe coasting is like the time between contractions or something, but that last hill is a doozy! I went along on occasions, to keep her company. Later, I continued biking on my own.
I remember being pleased with myself when I had ridden 12 miles! I was also thrilled one morning when I set out to go to breakfast and rode 27 miles!
Five years later I rode my first double century. (A double century is a 200-mile bike ride.) I mention all this because how I was able to ride a double century is closely related to why I am running.
Very early in my cycling effort, I was invited to join a Saturday morning breakfast group. I showed up at 6 a.m. to find they were all pudgier and older than me. "This'll be easy," I thought. Well, what actually happened was that they rode me into the ground!
Yet they shared their water bottles because I didn't even know I was supposed to have one. They gave me lots of advice and encouragement. They talked to me, not down to me. They took turns dropping back to ride with me. They never laughed at me and they even stopped and walked with me when I was done in.
So I trained hard during the following weeks because I wanted to keep up with these guys on Saturday mornings.
In doing so I learned some a couple of important things.
First, there is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment and strength that comes with pushing oneself physically no matter what shape one is in.
Second, and I think most important, is that one achieves one's best in a community.
I finished my last double century because my friend Jeff was there. It was that simple. I would
