I used to run races on my High School Track and Cross-Country teams. I won! OK, I won a very few times; mostly I did not win.
For quite a few years, as an adult, I ran in 5K, 10K, and Half-Marathon races. I never won! Ever. I was always an also-ran. (However, my best time in the Indy 500 Mini-Marathon was a few seconds over 1 hr. and 37 min. That works out to just shy of 7 and 1/2 minutes for each of 13.1 miles...I will never, ever, run that well again.)
Last year, I ran in the Mini-Marathon for the fist time in quite a few years. It was not pretty! In fact, here is how sad I looked as I crossed the finish-line.
Now let me explain the picture a bit: The official clock (started when the gun sounds for well over 12,000 of us runners) shows me finishing in 2 hrs. and 39 minutes. HOWEVER, I did not reach the start-line until the 18 minute-mark (so far back in the starting-grid was I when the gun sounded); so, I actually ran the 13.1 miles in 2 hrs. and 21 minutes...almost 11 minutes per mile. Sad. Very Sad.
Chances are, most of you reading this are folks who, like me, are the also-rans of most of our life-races. NO PROBLEM...just repeat after Paul: "I have run the race..." We do not have to be the winners...just the runners.
And hopefully you will look better at the end of the race than I did!
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