[cs_section style=”margin: 0px; padding: 45px 0px; “][cs_row style=”margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; ” inner_container=”true”][cs_column style=”padding: 0px; ” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″][cs_text]When I turned 30 I took up running. Do not get me wrong, I am not a runner, I simply run. My mile times, compared to others, are really slow, and down right pathetic compared to the world’s elite. Yet, though I may be slow I still run. So when I decided to run a full marathon my goal was not to be in the top 3, though that would be awesome. My goal was simply to finish, and six hours and six minutes after the gun went off I crossed the finish line. I was not the best, in fact I was one of the slowest, but I did it nonetheless.
Watching the world’s elite in anything can be awe-inspiring. There are some of us who can push themselves to frontiers that were never imaginable before. From Neil Armstrong walking on the moon to Tony Hawk landing the first 1080, from Claude Monet’s French impressionism to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony to Alain Robert’s free climbing – we are enamored with their feats of brilliance. And rightly so, these and many others have achieved great things. Yet we are not them, they are them and we are us. But that is the good news, they are not us, we are us. They can never be us, only we can be us. So let us be us and them be them.
There are things the world’s elite runners will never know. Eliud Kipchoge, who just finished the fastest marathon ever recorded at 2:00:25, will never know what it is like to push hard to complete the same distance in six hours. The Jamaican Olympic teams, both men and women, will never know what is like to finish always second to last. While they push for the top spots many of us push just to finish, and just finishing is a greater accomplishment than finishing first for people like me. Or take the dancers in Riverdance, which I saw recently. They can do things I only dream I could do. Yet, they will never know what is like to attempt to dance with the symptoms of MS, having slow and cumbersome legs. Even though they will never know I know; I know what it took to attempt and finish all these things. While I may not be at their level I still do.
This is in part why I hang my accomplishments – I am very proud of what I have accomplished. Though I may not be the best, or anywhere close, I completed those runs. Each one, coincidentally, was a greater achievement, a slow build of accomplishments, with my last one being the full marathon. Will I attempt something greater than a marathon? Most likely not, but I will attempt other things. With each attempt I know I will not be the best but I will still attempt them regardless. With each feat I finish my wall of accomplishments will grow, and that I will be proud of.
What about you? Have you ever not attempted something because you know you will not be the best? Have you let the achievements of others who may be better overcome your desire to try? Or are you the person who gets out there and tries because you want to, paying no attention to the faster runners lapping you? I hope you are the kind of person who pursues your passions because you want to do them, not because you want to be the best at them. If you are the best, kudos to you. I look forward to watching your skills one day. If you are like me, however, and will never be the best do not let that deter you. Attempt those things you want to do, take a chance on your passion, try it out and see if you enjoy it. So what if you are not the best, neither am I, but we still do nonetheless!
Attempt it. Chance it. Try it. Get to It![/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section]