Hey, Doris!

April 27, 2009

One day while browsing in a used bookstore, I found the running and fitness section, and happened to stumble across a book called Return of the Tribes to Peachtree Street, by Jeff Galloway. I hadn’t heard of it, so I wondered, when was it written? What was it about? But most importantly, who was Doris, and why was her autographed copy of this book in a used bookstore?

I considered the possibilities:

Was the book a gift, from a runner to Doris, the non-runner, to inspire her?
Did Doris buy the book on impulse at an expo, only to discover she didn’t like it?
Was there a messy breakup of lovers or roommates that resulted in all of Doris’s books being sold to a used bookstore?
Did she move and just need to get rid of some things?
Was it something more morbid, like a permanent injury, or worse?

Then I considered the most terrible possibility of all: what if Doris had simply stopped running? No, it couldn’t be that. I mean really, we all know the infinite benefits of running, from the physical, to the mental and the spiritual. Further, many of us are serious addicts that suffer greatly when we’re not running, or else experience lapses of motivation that end up being temporary in nature….is that what happened, Doris? You lost your motivation, you got rid of all of your running paraphernalia – and now you regret it?

Doris, if you’re out there somewhere, I have your book. I was so intrigued by all of your possible stories that I told my husband about you. He was intrigued by my level of intrigue, so he bought your book and gave it to me as a gift months later. The funny thing is, you probably won’t see this and have no idea that you’ve had this effect.

Many runners have this effect and don’t know it. Maybe one day you were running in the rain and someone drove by and saw you. They likely thought you were crazy; but maybe they didn’t. Maybe they told themselves a story about you, a story that made them think about taking up running.

You’re a role model and you don’t even know it!