Non runners look at us and shake their heads in amusement,
puzzlement, bewilderment, wondering what this pull is that attracts us to pound
the pavement week after week, month after month, year after year. When asked,
the answer is not so easily phrased. Runners, by and large, are private people
who use their running to be alone with their thoughts, to daydream in an
appropriate manner, in an acceptable forum. We use this time for problem
resolution, as well as stress release. Sometimes, we use running to race
faster. As a competitive runner, although mainly with myself, I am often
"guilty" of this. But the run I am writing about today was special, and
I knew in the midst of it that I finally had to start sharing my thoughts with
other runners.
I woke up early today to find a beautiful white blanket of
unbroken snow covering the ground, and it was still falling rather heavily. It
has been a few years since I had last run in the snow, which is one of my
favorite things to do. I quickly pulled on my special black running tights
which had printed snowflakes running up the sides. I had been saving these
tights for just such an occasion. Today was the day. A few more pieces of foul
weather gear and I was out the door.
I have a nice rolling loop in my neighborhood which covers about
1.25 miles. As I started today's 7 1/2 mile run, I observed that the snow lay
pure on the road ahead of me. The only disturbance was left in my wake. My mind
started to wander to thoughts of Dr. George Sheehan, who in my opinion, was the
most insightful author of running psychology and running philosophy I have ever
read. He had an uncanny ability to allow a single run to have a profound effect
on his entire life from that point forward. Not only that, but he would then
write about his experience and share it with the rest of the world, so that
whoever wanted to could actually benefit from his experience.
What a wonderful, caring, and giving man he was, I thought. He
lived his life to benefit other people, both through his profession and his
writing, and he has ensured that his legacy will live on throughout my lifetime
and beyond. We all have intimate thoughts while on the run. Why not share them
with the rest of the world? I'll bet he could have written something wonderful
about today's run. Here is a man in whose footsteps I would be honored to
follow.
At about this time, I noticed that the snow that lay ahead was no
longer unbroken. There was a single trail of footsteps ahead of me, already
carved in the snow. I hit the split timer on my watch to mark the completion of
my first loop. Whose footsteps were those that lay ahead of me? Was I just
repeating my own footsteps, running around in circles, or were these actually
someone else's footsteps, beckoning me to follow? As I continued my run, I felt
a strange presence, as if I were not alone. It was as if George Sheehan had
come to Lawrenceville, GA, and was with me, stride for stride. I quickly
started recalling the few brief times I met him.
When I still lived in New York, I used to see him at races in
Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Central Park in New York, where he was basically
just another good age group runner. People didn't make a fuss about him there,
as this was his home running ground. He wasn't a guest there; he was
competition for other people in his age group.
Then there was the year he was a guest speaker at the Salisbury
Winter Flight run in North Carolina. Everyone clamored to see him there, but he
was just as friendly and approachable as you could imagine. The last time I saw
him in person was at the Old Reliable Run in Raleigh the next year. I remember
passing him at about the two mile mark of that race, which I had never done before,
and noticed him wheezing heavily. I asked him if he was all right and he just
smiled and kept on going. He announced to the world two days later that he had
cancer.
As I ran my sixth and final loop, the road behind me left the
impression that a marathon had just been run along the left hand shoulder. I
had just run the last six miles of my wonderfully snowy run with Dr. George
Sheehan. Not only is he still alive, but he taught me a most valuable lesson
today. It's okay to walk, (or run) in someone else's footsteps, but never, ever
forget that, each step of the way, you are also forging your own path, which
others may then chose to follow. Have no regrets about the trail you leave.
Why do I run? Sometimes a run can make a day a little bit better
than it otherwise would have been. But once in a blue moon, as George Sheehan
so consistently pointed out, your whole reason for being, the way you look at
life can be changed by a single run. For me, it was once upon a snowy morning
in Lawrenceville, GA, where I experienced first hand what it's like to create
my own footsteps, as well as follow in the footsteps of someone I have the
greatest admiration for. I also got to the experience sharing a run with the
immortal George Sheehan. I have wanted to write about my own running thoughts
for years. January 7th, 1996, Dr. Sheehan told me, was a great day to start.
If you are not familiar with Dr. Sheehan, please do yourself a
favor and get acquainted with him. You will be amazed by his insights and
observations. And who knows, you may even want to follow in his footsteps.
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