August 2008

President’s Column - August 2008 - Deb Wyspianski I have found that it often pays just to show up and do the best you can. Literally! This has been a year of great improvement for me. I have stayed healthy and trained consistently and it has truly paid off. However, I will say that it is often as much luck as it is pluck that gets the prize. My best example of that is my running the DFC’s East End Mile. I had never run just a mile before. I was certain that with the prize money available that there would be several faster than me at the race. My biggest fear was that I had no idea how to pace it, It was at least 90 degrees that evening and at the ¼- mile mark my tongue had shriveled into a piece of cardboard and my lips were sticking to my teeth. I just hung in there and finished one second under my estimated time. As it turned out I won the masters women’s division and $250.00 for just under a 6 and a half- minute effort! I was in the right place at the right time and I had given it my best. The month I took off in early spring to let my foot heal was a big disappointment to me. My training had dwindled because of the injury already and I was a couch potato for a month. It resulted in my missing the Boston Marathon. I tried to mitigate that by finding another goal. The Run for Health 5k, part of the RROY series was the same weekend as Boston. I knew I was out of shape and had only been back running two weeks but I also knew a lot of my competition would be away. I also managed to get very sun burned the day before and in addition to being sore in all of the usual chafe spots, I most likely started the race still dehydrated. I spent the whole race just trying not to throw up and finished with a time that made me cringe in comparison with where I had been the fall before, but I had showed up, done my best and earned points for the RROY series.  I got the chance to run the mile again in another RROY race, the Charlie McMullen mile. At the McMullen mile I again heard the topic of why the race might not have produced as many runners. I found it sad to realize that many people were intimidated. What made me the saddest though was that it seemed that some of the women the year before had felt uncomfortable running the whole race under the eyes of the spectators so near, some of whom seemed to be speculating the winner. I certainly recognize the feeling, but I wish that everyone would realize that they are not alone in those fears. It’s truly a shame to let those fears hold you back from something you desire to do. The reality is that all fear of embarrassment is really and truly in your own head. What difference does it really make what the bystanders think? It can only affect you if you allow it to. This seems to me the worst type of fear because you are allowing a powerless outside force (possibly imagined) the power to dictate what you do or don’t do. Then there is the fear of self failure. You might go out too hard and seize up like a rusty engine before the finish. This is at least a more realistic fear in that there can be an actual consequence of pain. This too though is usually short lived, but certainly not something to be ashamed of. The opposite should be true. You showed up, did your best, no excuses, and probably learned something for the next try. It’s all a matter of interpretation. The good news is that your interpretation is completely up to you. Here are two quotes I like. “In life we don’t get what we want, we get in life what we are. If we want more we have to be able to be more, in order to be more you have to face rejection”. – Farrah Gray, and “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." . . . You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt. I find that confidence is everything, but confidence must be earned. Good luck. -Deb