1409 Ironman athletes in San Juan Puerto Rico
1402 runners at the Lucky Leprechaun 5K
Nearly 30,000 runners competed in the Nation’s Capital second annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon and Half Marathon

I knew at least two people in all three of these races. In all, over 32,000 people participated in these 3 races alone this past weekend. That is just a very small number out of the hundreds available across the country. Ironman triathlons, marathons, 5Ks (which is 3.1 miles, by the way) local, national, or international… there are opportunities of all different types all over the place. All 32,000 of these folks trained to accomplish their goals despite ‘not having the time’ or ‘energy’ to do so. It’s safe to assume many, if not more of these people have kids, a demanding job and a crazy busy schedule. However, nothing, not even bad weather, prevented them from finding the time to train. Many of them did the race “just to finish” and many of them set out to win their race. However, I assume most just wanted to do the best they could.

The point is they all made fitness a priority in their lives by setting a goal and then they worked towards it. They may not have done as well as the wanted to but they did it. Saying “Congratulations” to them is mandatory, but saying, “You’ve inspired me and now I am going to: ____ ” is far more rewarding for them to hear. Go ahead, say it, and after your event I hope someone says it to you!