Thanks so much to everyone (who have numbered in the dozens) of you who have sent congratulatory notes and kind emails. I'm proud of what I've achieved at Badwater, but feel grossly undeserving of the kudos. People like Lisa Bliss and Valmir Nunez, to say nothing of the other incredible athletes who finished the race, are the ones deserving of the plaudits.
And to those of you who have supported Soles4Souls, I sincerely appreciate your generosity.
Physically, my recovery has been...fair. Fine, actually. I've completed five runs and one bike ride. The joints are a bit creaky, and my left achilles tendon is tight. The feet are looking pretty good. Otherwise, I'm fine, and chomping at the bit of fitness. Know thyself, and I know that I take a bit of time to recover...perhaps more than the next person. But I'm fine with that.
So many questions of "What's next?" It's a question, at least for my athletic self, that remains to be answered. Life is full right now, and wrapping my head around my next race or athletic goal seems trivial at the present. Suffice to say that I'll choose a goal worthy of achieving!
A nod to a number of friends: Nick ("Chip") Collins finished the Leadville Trail 100 in an impressive manner on Sunday. Ronda "Rooster" Sundermeier also notched a finish (5th overall woman!!) at Leadville, filling in the third (of four) 100-mile footraces she needs in order to be recognized as a finisher of the "Grand Slam" of ultramarathoning. Wasatch is next for Ronda. And dear friend Lisa Smith-Batchen has announced her next (AMAZING) goal of running across the United States next summer! WOW!
I just watched the trailer for a movie about Badwater that is due to be released soon. This quote of the "Badwater runner," by an unknown person of UK origin stuck out for me. It says so much, and concludes this post (and my Badwater experience) in a wonderful way:
"Until you’ve actually thought, “Could I do it?” you’d never, ever entertain the possibility that you couldn’t.
And then you see people doing it, quite comfortably, and you say, “Well they’re super-people.” They’re not.
Maybe they are super-people, but only because they have explored for themselves how it can be done. Not “it can’t be done.”
Gratefully,
Gregwww.giveshoes.org
4 comments:
Good quote, I'll be thinking of it next 2 weekends:)
Glad to see you back.
Hi Greg...this seems perfect right now:)
from Charles Swindell…
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill, it will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react.”
Thanks for being such an inspiration to us all.
Your journey is amazing
Your friend
Lisa
Hi Greg,
It's funny how even after FOUR weeks now, I am still filled with satisfaction, warm memories, and the feeling of accomplishment. Yep, the glory - whatever that means to each of us - lasts forever! Maybe one of these weeks I can actually write up a report....maybe not. :) Thanks for your kind words here. See you out there again some day.
All the best always,
Lisa
Funny how you work so hard, go do the event and them boom your back to regular life. I love regular life as much as running so I am never sad to jump back in but it's a wild ride because regular life is as fast as any race, so it seems. Can't wait for you to reveal your next great adventure, I am sure it will be wild.
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