Susan Donnelly Ultramarathon Trail Runner. Motivational Speaker. http://www.susanruns100s.com
Reaching 90 Date : April 30, 2009
Ultras, that is. Not years. How on earth did I finish 90 ultras? I mean, where did the time go??? Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was so utterly disenchanted with road marathons that I was about to quit racing? If all those finish times weren’t occupying so many little cells all over my spreadsheet and if the total at the bottom didn’t say it in black and white, I’d never in a million years have guessed 90. When I started ultras in 1997, I ran only a few each year, maybe one a month at most. Each one seemed so big and I thought I had to race each one of them. Then one year – an incredibly bad year – I managed to finish only one ultra. Thinking back, it all makes 90 that much more startling. Ultrarunning has at times been a sanctuary, a scary challenge, a commitment on the calendar, a lifesaver, a simple joy, a needed distraction, a celebration of life, a spiritual renewal, a social feast, and a way to explore myself as much as the trails I run. Yet beyond all that, it’s always been a home. Something I that’s always there for me, no matter what I need. I never grow bored with it. There are so many different ways to approach the sport and so many different things to gain from it. I’ve been incredibly lucky to discover something I love and to choose to bask in it as much I can, no matter how odd it seems. Many people don’t get there. They find something they love and but don’t feel in their heart of hearts that they deserve to enjoy it. Or they spend their time doing something they think they should enjoy instead while their real dreams sit halfremembered in the background. Gifts like this don’t always make sense but they’re surely there for a reason. Some reason. A good reason. So here’s to 90 more and to you enjoying the journey to your own 90, whatever that is. Get out and do something you love today!
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