expr:class='"loading" + data:blog.mobileClass'>

Monday, September 22, 2014

RnR Philly Recap... Deena Kastor Feeds The Dream

Deena Kastor put a walloping on the World Masters Half-Marathon Record on Sunday and in route, Deena also set three more Masters world records at 15k, 10miles and 20k see competitor.com for details.  While I didn't shatter any world records this weekend I did set a PB at 1:41:48 with an avg pace of 7:48.

What makes her accomplishment so delious is she did so at 41, an age when most pros hang up their racing kicks.  Kastor story "feeds the dream"-specifically my BQ quest.  

Photo competitor.com
While I was playing tourists snapping pics head tilted in amazement I met a fellow runner who offered to take a picture of me standing in front of this plane.  

I noticed he was proudly rocking on a BAA cap so I asked him if he ever ran the race and he said yes.  Wow, what was that like?  It was an amazing experience, I chimed in with I'm trying to qualify for Boston. "Yeah I got tired of trying to qualify and finally ran with a charity".  


Hey did he totally miss me from this shot?
No judgement internal conversation or further discussion about qualifying for Boston, he took two pics and we drifted into the remainder of our day.

Tom's a Beast he did the Remix Challenge Bling Bling..
Philly was my first time experiencing an RnR event so I planned on making the most of it, spending time at the expo catching up with some FB Friends and connecting with the vendors.

Lesa from Sole2Sole asked me to say Merle from Sweaty Bands
Some of the usual sneaker brand suspects were in attendance Brooks, Hoka, Altra, Newton and then there was a Swedish newcomer to the U.S. market Salming Running-of course I tried a pair on lite weight bright "No Nonsense Running".  Ok I'm intrigued looking forward to learning more about them in the weeks to come.

Salming Running No Nonsense Running
With the hype of race day on the back burner my attention is turned to Hartford, will I BQ?  Should I just hang up my Huaka's?  No!! Yeah I'm human thoughts come but I don't spend  time entertaining negativity, instead I focus on the goal putting in work and feeding the dream with inspirational stories like Deena Kastor record breaking accomplishment.

At the  writing of this entry I filled up on a scene from The Pursuit of Happyness when Will and his son were on the rooftop.  "Hey dad I'm going Pro, look dad I'm going Pro... Ahhh I don't you'll probably be about as good as I was, that's kinda how it works and I was below avg".  

Black Men Run is running group that promotes a healthy lifestyle
Then Will shoots set shot that goes over the hoop and finishes telling his son: "So you'll probably end up somewhere around there you'll excel at a lot of things just not this, so I don't want you out here all day shooting this ball around".  Will passes the ball to his son and he bounces it a few times then throws it off to the side and starts packing it up in a plastic grocery bag.

There's dead silence as Will is standing there looking at the disappointment in his sons eyes which he deposited.  I can't help but think what was going through his mind, his heart that caused him to changed his message in that brief moment.

With a gentle word he grabs his son's gaze, "hey... Don't ever let someone tell you can't do something, not even me.  Alright? You got a dream, you've got to protect it.  People can't do something themselves they want to tell you, you can't do it.

 I'll leave you today with these words: "You want something go get period"!

RunR4Lyfe



No comments:

Post a Comment