I am a passionate runner. After thirteen years of training, ups, downs and all the good that comes with it, that is part of my identity. It’s not because I’m fast or because I win races. It’s not and I don’t! It’s just that running gives me a reason to do something better every day, connects me to a community of wonderful people and even inspired me to create a nonprofit that helped young people a few years ago. For all of it, I am beyond grateful.
After a tough marathon in late October and a half marathon In November with not much rest in between, I really pushed the envelope - two back to back hard and fast (for me) 11 milers and a 5k in between. The result: I’ve been diagnosed as having a herniated disc or disc bulge. I’m embarrassed to say that my first reaction was “Why me?” I’m not proud of it. But after coming back to running late last year after heart-related issues, I felt like I deserve a break. But as they say, we plan and someone up there laughs! Much more importantly, this is - as they seem to say in politics - a nothingburger compared to the suffering and challenges experienced by others in many avenues of life. After some processing, a little bit of whining (to my very kind wife), and a good bit of reading about treatment, I feel like I am onto a positive path. Running doesn’t define me - it’s simply something that I’ve come to value. And, as it has so many times over these past years, this running experience has taught me valuable lessons that apply to other areas of life:
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Robert GrabelRobert is an Executive and Business Development Coach. You can read him here or on www.younonprofitnow.com Archives
May 2020
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