Imitation is the sincerist form of flattery. That’s what my Mom said. I guess she hasn’t had fellow runners doing an imitation of you inspiring other runners while you are standing there. My copycat got the biggest laugh from me. If you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?
I made it to the Den tonight. As always, I stayed behind to help Esther with the beginners. I have figured out what motivates her – or at least I think I figured it out.
Esther told the beginners that we were going to do something a little different today. Something that she promised them they would all love. Kind of like hills, but that is a whole other story. Today they were going to practice fartleks. Some of the beginners looked at each other and mouthed, “a what?”
And off we all went to do fartleks. On the way there, Esther explained what she wanted me to do. Run and try to count to 30 without fainting. Actually it was as easy as it sounds. We ran for 30 seconds a bit faster than our normal pace. Then walked for about 45 seconds.
We all managed to make it through to the first half of the run. Esther asked if I could ensure that I ran at the back and make sure that we all stayed together as a group. Unfortunately, my little group got separated from the main group.
We were slower than the first group, but we had a great time and made it back in one piece. You know you have arrived when you get made fun of along the way!!! I think I’ll have to work out an even better imitation of myself for the next run.
But what made it even more thrilling and hence the reason for understanding Esther’s motivation, as we stretched and made plans for Thursday, one by one my little group thanked me for the encouragement on our way back. Pshaw I said humbly.
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