Just Show Up

"If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run."

— John Bingham

© 2016 Alison Walker
In July 2012, I ran my first 5K.

This past summer — in my fifteenth 5K — I won my first medal.

I didn't run this race much faster than I did in any other race I've run over the past four years. Though I celebrate even small improvements from race to race, in this case it wouldn't have mattered even if I'd run quite a bit slower.

For whatever reason, there were only three female runners in my age group in that particular race — so basically I won a third-place medal for just showing up!

Isn't this a great metaphor for life?