Dedicated to Someone I Love

This is the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina. Also known as the New Cooper River Bridge.

On April 2, 2011, I am going to run over this bridge...plus another 4.2 miles.

I don't really want to.

I am NOT the "exercise" type. I only play one on TV.

I promise.

I am the "steak and fries" type. And Chardonnay. And Scrabble on my iPad. And a good novel on a sandy beach.

This is the real me....


And this....
And this....


I am NOT one of those "I get such a high from running" that I drank the Koolaid people, either.

This race is fun, don't get me wrong. I feel wonderful....when it is over. And I go have a Bloody Mary, steak and fries at 10:00 am. Duh.

Every morning, from the moment I started training for this race, I have fought an internal battle with my lazy self. There is more whining going on in my head than Michael throws at me when he has to get out of bed in the morning for Sunday school.

Folks, that is A LOT of whining!!

The funny thing is, I have been covering this same self discipline philosophy in great detail, lately, with the Big Kids.

It goes like this:

Me - "You are old enough to realize that you are not going to magically lose weight or get a date or find a job or get good grades or save money."

Them - "Why not?"


Me - "Because in REAL LIFE, things don't just happen your way. You have to muster up the maturity and self discipline to go after whatever it is you want and take it! The time is NOW."

Scary, huh? I can be kind of scary.

So, I tell myself that I am old enough to realize that if I want to be healthy, still eat as much chocolate as I want and continue to wear a bathing suit at the beach, then I must muster up the maturity and self discipline to run.

Every step is hard.

I ran the Cooper River Bridge Run 3 years ago and my attitude was pretty much the same then as it is now.

It so happened that at that time, my father had just suffered a blood clot in his leg, was facing a possible amputation, contracted an infection and was really sick and barely able to walk.


I didn't tell a soul, but I dedicated my run to him.

Every miserable step of the way, I thought of him. I thought of how his feet were like stone and he had to give up driving a car. I thought about how important it is for me to not become a diabetic and how much he would want me to be healthy. Every stride was an act of love, every breath was done in prayer.

I prayed for him. For me.

It was an act of dedication but also of prayer and gratitude to God for all of it.

This worked. Really well.

I finished the race.

I didn't walk once - even when my heart was pounding so hard, I thought it would burst and my iPod volume was up as high as it could go. Even the Black Eyed Peas couldn't get me through it better than God and the thought of my sweet daddy!

This year, I am dedicating my training and completion of the 2011 Cooper River Bridge Run to someone else.

Keep checking in with my musings to find out who it is.

Question: What inspires you? What tiny seed inside you is really a spark that can ignite your soul? Make you run? Or lose weight or get a date or find a job or quit a bad habit?

See you on the pavement!

~J