Follow your passion!
Running makes me cry. Exhaustion makes me cry. Come to think of it, a lot of things make me cry…. I’m an emotional sort. I’ve been known to sob mid-Crossfit workout and wail over Facebook videos of elephants reuniting or Johnson & Johnson commercials. Oh, my poor husband. And here, for your viewing pleasure, is the most unflattering ugly-cry picture that I could find in my preparation for this post. Passion passion!
My Boston experience
This picture was taken a lifetime ago, just after I’d finished the Toronto Marathon in 2002, which subsequently qualified me to run the Boston marathon. My qualifying race happened at a very pivotal time in my life- I had just moved to Toronto six weeks prior, not knowing a soul, and I set my sights on seeing the city through my long training runs, with the ultimate goal of running a Boston-qualifying time that October.
The first week of September came and went, and I was immersed and swallowed up into the intensity that is Chiropractic College. I made fast friends, and those friends rallied around me and supported me like true friends do, even hosting a carb-loading potluck for me, and crawling out of bed on a cold Sunday morning to watch me cross the finish line and cry, cry, cry.
April 2003 rolled around, and Boston came and went. The actual race is a blur for me; I was too high on adrenaline and I-can’t-believe-this-is-actually-happening to take it all in. But I remember the hills, I remember the sunburn, and I remember scanning the finishing stretch on Boylston Street for my parents, who had stood five people deep for four hours just to catch a glimpse of my dream coming true. And it was a dream come true, as it is for many distance runners- the ultimate goal, the Shangri La of races.
Life after Boston
After that, I ran a few more marathons. Five in total, actually, until I realized that my desire to slog through 26.2 miles was waning. I embraced the half-marathon, where my brain and body seemed to find a better fit.
Then I finished school, got married, started my practice, and had my babies. And I ran through it all. A jogging stroller was my must-have, my running wardrobe is ridiculously large, and my pre-dawn runs still happen several times a week.
I still enter races, I still train hard, I still call myself “a runner.” But running has become less I-have-to and more I-need-to; I need to feel the air in my lungs, I need to hear my feet on the ground, I need to do my very best thinking.
And now there’s another I-need-to: I need to show my children passion. For me, that passion manifests in running.
But whatever your passion is, I hope the people around you can see it.
Dr. Ashley Worobec, chiropractor and RockTape ambassador
Follow Ashley on her blog HERE