No Category selected I Pick You to be on My Team

    I Pick You to be on My Team

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    We’ve all had the awful sinking feeling.  We are in gym class … er physical education class … and we are being picked for teams.  We watch as the popular kids get picked first.  And with any luck, we will have had a friend who is a cool sports kid, so we don’t have to wait to get picked.  But we all have had that moment when the captain of the teams are fighting over who is gonna get stuck with you.

    I'm so happy Esther picked me for her team
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    I was talking with a couple of run walkers this week.  And they were telling me their motivation for running.

    They were the last one picked for the baseball team, the volleyball team … the fill in the blank team.  And when you are young and impressionable, you feel the horror, the embarassment of being picked last.

    With any luck you outgrow that embarassment and you go on.  You get into the career you dreamed of.  And it is not work anymore.  Sometimes though, people aren’t so lucky and they end up with a job that they hate. 

    And they still end up being the last kid picked for the baseball team.

    My friend Kelly and her son Derek.  Part of the running family and my Mom
    My friend Kelly and her son Derek. Part of the running family and my Mom

    Some folks are lucky enough to stumble onto this running thing.  They find themselves with a place that they absolutely fit in.  They look forward to the times when they can go and hang out with like minded people.  They have a second family. They can laugh.  They can cheer each other on.

    They can also cry.

    In  the moment when they hear “their” name being called as they struggle to cross the finish line.  And they know that someone is there, on the other side waiting.  Waiting to make sure that they pick them first for their team.

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    A runner for almost two years, Terry recently had the mildly traumatic experience of trying to find a flattering pair of running pants (“Isn’t running about pushing personal boundaries and just getting out there and moving? Except when you don’t look in the least bit like Paula Radcliffe.”). But although she may have been a bit embarrassed by “helpful handsome guy” at the store, she keeps a great perspective through her running experiences. Pushing through a number of injuries early in her running career, she got right back to training for her next race. “The feeling of elation when I crossed the finish line is unimaginable,” says Terry. Sounds like she’s hooked for good!