Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Sometimes it is the little things...

......that reminder us what the big things are.

Sunday afternoon I was laying around, contemplating a nap, and channel surfing, when I came upon the live feed from the LA Marathon. What I saw motivated me to take an unscheduled (fast as I can go run), so I wanted to share.  The race was at the point where the first male and female elite runners were in their final stretch, those last couple miles of the 26.2.



I have a hard time relating to the elites, I can understanding and feel the struggle of the guy in the back or the mass crowds in the middle; but apart from a sense of awe, I have no connection with an elite runner. However today was different…the commentary helped me to relate to these runners, in particularly to Fatuma Sado, the 20 year old female first place woman. 



In the LA Marathon, there is not only the prize money for the first place male and female, there is also an added prize of a car from Honda and $200,000 for the first finisher, male or female. Since there is a staggered start with the females leading by about 17 minutes, the overall winner Simon Njoroge was not necessarily going to win the Honda challenge as well.

As both runners made their way in, it was close. Simon was within a mile of Fatuma and both runners started to look behind them near the end. However, Fatuma actually starting to speed up during the last couple miles and Simon did not close the gap, and she won the challenge!

This was all very exciting but not what struck a chord in me. What really had me caught up in this race was something that the commentator said. He was talking about the prize money and the challenge money and said something along the lines of the fact that the prize was probably not considered a fortune to the average American, but that in Ethiopia where Fatuma is from, that amount of money could be a life changer. Not just a moment in the spotlight, but a game changer. I think that is when I understood her determined look, her speed at the end and the amount of dedication and work she had put into this win, and found myself moved to tears.



This story lingered with me on Monday, that afternoon I had a young client come in who I have been training to run. Her homework was to bring me in a quote that inspired her…



“The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare” Juma Ikangaa 1989 Winner of New York Marathon

1 comment:

Jamie said...

Wow! That would get me out of my seat and running down the street too if I heard that! How wonderful for her to win.