RUNNING WITH GRATITUDE

There are quite a few of you that ran the Crim over this past weekend. What an amazing race. 16,000 runners in all the races combined and what a party!!! There are some wonderful programs and ways in order to get the "non-runners" through this 10 mile race and a huge Crim Training Program that helps so many people reach goals they set. So the crowd is amazing and diverse and wonderful and what a trip!!! Anyways what I discovered 3 years ago when I ran the Chicago Marathon (yes the full 26.2 miles), is that it is better to dedicate the miles to something or someone. Otherwise, you find yourself dedicating your mind to focusing on the pain and the results are very painful. So I do not dedicate all 10 miles of the Crim to something different, I spend the entire race in deep gratitude: gratitude for having the ability to get up that morning and eat what I need to eat; gratitude to have a nice roof over my head and clothes to put on; gratitude to be able to have a car to get me to the race; gratitude for being able to share the race experience with my mom and a number of friends and practice members; gratitude for my life, my work, my family, my friends, and the list goes on and on. There is a moment in each of the long distance runs that I am welling up with tears of gratitude. Gratitude is an amazing and powerful attraction force in life and I am so grateful to have discovered that early so that I may use it everyday.
"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." -Cicero