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As some of you know, I am a runner.  I started a few years ago and am now about to run my second marathon.


I was not destined to be a runner.  I was a swimmer growing up, we lived at the beach and I body surfed constantly, we had pools and I swam on a team when I was in elementary school.  I wasn’t good but I could swim.  Swimming was my thing.  

This is the beach where I was raised.

When I went away for my freshman year of college my roommate turned out to be a runner. A crazy, long distance runner.   I didn’t have one iota of interest in running.  I was not a runner. I couldn’t do that, even if I wanted to.


When I went to my next college (I went to many) I had a roommate who was a runner (and a cocaine fiend).  I had not one iota of interest in running. I was not a runner.  I couldn’t do that, even if I wanted to.


When I went to my next college I saw a lot of runners (the college was on the beach).  I was not a runner. I couldn’t do that, even if I wanted to.


Then for the next 20 some odd years I continued to be not a runner.


Then I got a divorce and went to the gym.  I lost weight, got fit.  I saw people run on the track.  I tried once or twice.  But I was still not a runner.  


Then I had an office mate at work who wanted to get some exercise, she was a runner.  I joined her, for the first 100 yards. Then I walked. I was not a runner, after all.  I ran a longer distance a few times, I got a little better. But I still wasn’t a runner.

My first running buddies, leaving me in the dust.

Then my wife thought it would be fun for the family to join a running training group.  It was starting very slow; run 1 minute, walk 3.  I could do that since it wasn’t really running, just jogging a little bit.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to run any distance, and I was right.


Then the training led to a race. A 3.1 mile race, a 5k.  That is running.  But since I couldn’t do it, even if I wanted to, one of two things was no longer true.  My belief about what I could do had changed, or…well, there was no second thing.  My belief changed.  I could run.  I did run.  I ran that race.


Then I trained some more and ran twice that distance.  Then I ran 3 times that distance.  Then I ran 4+ times that distance.  Then I ran 8.4517 times that distance and I had run a marathon, 26.2 miles.

Some of my running buddies and myself.

It took me 2 years.  I am now a runner.  I used to believe I couldn’t and I didn’t.  Now I believe I can and I do.  What changed?  Believing I could do it.


Who do you believe you are?  Who do you believe you are not?  The not is what is holding you back, not the are.  Untie that NOT.
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Drawing and photos by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily


Quote by Henry Ford, 1863-1947, American business man, inventor of the modern assembly line, founder of Ford Motor Company.

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