Why We Ragnar
Tuesday, May 29, 2012 at 11:52AM Elizabeth McClosky, a member of the team Girls Gone Miles, who ran Ragnar Cape Cod in May, wrote her team this note on what Ragnar means to her. Consider it a little Ragnar inspiration to start the summer off...
Some food for thought now that I have had a few days to digest the culmination of the last nine months.
As the story goes, I was toying with the idea of calling out of work on Monday morning because I wasn't feeling prepared for the week with laundry, lunches, etc. Then we sat on the highway for HOURS going nowhere, and I thought that this would for sure push me to take the day off, sleep a little, catch up on what I shirked over the weekend. It didn't help that my whole family was telling me to take the day, that I deserved it, to make it my Mother's Day...
Nevertheless, Monday morning came, and I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and marched off, admittedly feeling a little unprepared. But it was because I realized something about this race, about what is underneath the black and purple hijinx, the boas, the tattoos, the cowbells and glow sticks...
What Ragnar has done for me is remind me that life is about going even when you're tired ("Wake up! Meagan is on her way! GOOOOO!), pushing even when you're unprepared, and about just doing it when you don't feel ready, knowing that you'll figure it out along the way. Even with the hose water, beer lines, and other snafus, Ragnar has really become a metaphor for the way life works.
It's a reminder that even when you have no idea what lies ahead, even when you're unsure if you're going the right way at all, there's only one thing to do: keep going. It's a reminder that there are often long, dark, scary roads with no lights ahead of us and no lights behind us, so this is when we run like hell for our lives. It's a reminder that sometimes in life your friends can cheer from the sidelines, sometimes they can cheer alongside you, sometimes they can jump in and even pull you along because you're hurting or doubting yourself and they can reassure you. Sometimes, though, you just have to go it alone, but they'll be at the end waiting for you. Sometimes, no one is there and you have to figure it out for yourself.
Ragnar is a reminder that when you feel like life is all uphill and you're ready to quit the climb, that just over the horizon is the finish line. Running has been the single most important teacher to me for the last 22 years. For all of the laughs, personal bests, and challenges that we've all shared over the last three years, the lessons beneath it all are what I will take to the beach next year!!!!!! What a kick ass bunch of ladies! You make me so freaking proud.
Follow these ladies and all of their running escapes on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GIRLSGONEMILES
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Why I Ragnar
http://politicsofwork.blogspot.com/2012/05/why-i-ragnar.html