Day 12: I Am a Kenyan

"We are inevitably our brother's keeper because we are our brother's brother. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly."


--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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I received an e-mail from my marathon running aunt, Margie, today with some words of advice: you are a Kenyan. This came in handy when, after the first seven block of my run, that familiar pang began tapping at my ribs and my breath began to shorten. Standing a little taller and imagining myself to be a strong athlete from a line of athletes helped a bit. Still, it did not ease the pain completely.


That was when I realized that I needed my own mantra. hat did I want to achieve and how was I going to accomplish that? So while standing on the corner of Texas and Madison, I had what we call in education "an Ah-ha" moment (it is funny how these always occur in the most random places, isn't it?). I found my mantra (at least for today) and I ran the next forty three minutes with ease. I even ran an extra three blocks just to keep the euphoria pumping.


As a child, I never understood why older people told me that certain things build character (I have distinct memories of being told that stewed zucchini built character, but I am sure my mother would argue otherwise). Today, I think I placed a few more bricks in my character. We will have to see if it is still there in the dawn's early light, or if I have to start over again tomorrow.