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Photo Credit: Matt Alexander, www.mattjalexander.com
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About a third of the way through my latest 10k race, a
familiar blue-topped runner came up beside me for the third time. But rather
than overtaking me, running out of steam and dropping back again, she decided
to join my steady pace. Although I’ll never know her name or what she does for
a living, we silently supported each other during the rest of the race,
side-by-side tackling each mile.
A little further on, we passed a guy who had just begun to
walk. “Come on”, I said, motioning for him to join our mini run club.
Reluctantly, he began to trot again and easily matched our speed. I pointed to
the closest landmark and suggested we aim for that, then the next one, then the
next, before we were only a few kilometres away from the finish line and he’d
not walked another step.
By the end, after another runner had joined our growing
group of support, a wheelchair racer whizzed by declaring he expected PBs from
us all. This request convinced me to break off from our team, speed up for the
last kilometre and collect a half-decent time.
I arrived at the race alone, yet received and shared the
same amount of support I’d get if running with friends. Without these
similar-minded strangers, the race would’ve been a little lonely and a lot
harder to complete.
And for that, runners, I love you.
I spot myself in that photo! Great post, I do love the support from the running community on Twitter :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for modelling for me! Everyone is so supportive, it's brilliant to be a part of such a great community.
DeleteYay totally agree with this, Mr bleeding nipples who offered me sweeties at bramley 30 and his crew gave me a boost when I'd broken ahead of my club! Parkrun soon?
ReplyDeleteOh, I love it! I've shamefully never done a Parkrun. Let's definitely do one together!
DeleteYes! Where is your closest? I love a bit of parkrun tourism. Also I commited a parkrun sin there. They like lowercase!
DeleteOh no, I made a rookie mistake. Will change it now. I'm west London so anything from Black Park to the one near Shepherd's Bush are my locals.
DeleteAhh this is super cute. I love runners too, from the hill runners who encourage me up the hill, to the random man I've accidentally made friends with because we clearly run the same training route (went from a nod, to a wave, to a hello, and now we are on 'how are you?' terms ha ha!).
ReplyDeleteThat's brilliant! One day, you might be best friends!
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