Impossible Is Nothing

           Impossible Is Nothing by Christopher Setterlund 

            To most people today the CapeAbilities 5K was just another race.  To me it was something much different.  To me this race today was the culmination of a transformation inside myself that I never thought would happen.  Today was never even on my radar as close as two months ago, but here I am after the fact now able to look back at what I have done with pride.  I have tried to make it known just how important personally this entire event and what led up to it has been, but maybe here you will get a better feel for it.  Bear with me as this is going to be an ocean of emotion spilling out in these words.

            For years my Uncle Steve has been telling me how much he wanted me to run races with him and for years I simply said no.  I said no because I believed in my heart that I could not, or to be more correct I did not believe in myself.  It has been something of a theme as time passed that my belief in myself seemed to wane and fade away, don’t know if it was just me or if others have experienced this as well.  You get so stuck in a way of thinking that it becomes reality whether it is true or not.  Sometimes it takes an unexpected voice to break that train of thought.

            I have a friend, she knows who she is and I will spare her the embarrassment of this praise, but I am proud to call her my friend and so blessed that I know her.  She was not born a runner, no she made herself into one through her own hard work and dedication.  The dedication she has is unlike anything I have ever seen in anyone and it is infectious.  For years I had seen her and wondered just how in the world she could do what she does, now I know, now I understand.

            You see people have believed in me, I am not alone in this world, but their voices were drowned out by my own self doubt, it was a powerful enemy I had to fight.  My friend, she ended up being the voice that broke the glass around my mind.  She believed in me because she had been in the same exact position before and had transformed herself into a world class runner.  She said if she could do it I could.  At first I was skeptical, my old beliefs were still holding on, but as time went on I began to see what was happening.

            I knew that I could count on her to be there as motivation for me to keep going.  For the first time in my life I was running and enjoying it and therefore starting to see results in how I looked and felt.  The 5K I did today was meant to prove to myself that I could actually do something I set out to do rather than giving up if it got hard.  I pulled every muscle in both legs at one point or another during my training but never did I lose sight of what I was doing.

            My Uncle Steve signed on for the 5K and was even more excited than I was because he had been pushing for me to run for so long and finally I was going to do it.  He was also not born a runner but transformed himself into one.  I was always inspired by him and so proud of him but I could never pull myself out of my own self doubt and lack of belief to join him.  That was what made today so damn special for me, I was putting those old feeling to bed once and for all.

            My time and pace were good, better than I thought, especially since I had a bit of a lingering injury to my left Achilles tendon, nothing major, just a dull soreness.  My Uncle Steve sacrificed his own time to run with me which made me feel so good, and important as well!  However, the time and pace meant less to me than the actual feeling of passing that clock and seeing my friend standing there with her hand out.  I had done it, I had succeeded in completing something that meant so much to me personally.  I had rediscovered my belief in myself.

            I collapsed with fatigue just after my sister Kate and my nieces Kaleigh and Emma and my nephew Landon gathered around me.  They were so proud of me, I had done something to make people proud of me.  That felt so good.  I wanted Kaleigh, Emma, and Landon to know that they can do anything in life if they put their minds to it.  I hope I was able to show them that through what I did today.   Having my family there to see me and experience it with me meant so much to me.

            As for my friend who I promised I would not embarrass here, I told you face to face what you mean to me.  You changed my life and my way of thinking by simply being who you are, I am so blessed and lucky to know you and hope that I have let you know that through my words and actions.  I hope after reading this you understand why this meant so much to me and why I feel like this day was the beginning of a new chapter of my life.

            So race 1 is in the books, I have 2 more already scheduled and have no intention of stopping whatever ride I am on.  I have had my eyes opened, I have had my mind opened, I have had my heart opened, and I have no plans to close them anytime soon.  I hope that maybe my own story will inspire someone to do something they thought they never could do.  It does not have to be running, that just happened to be my own outlet.  Remember that the term impossible is nothing.  You can do anything if you put your mind to it, I am living proof.  Thank you all for sharing this day, this moment with me.  I will not forget it as it is my own personal finish line and also a starting line for something great that only time can reveal to me.  Cheers!