Most evenings I sit in bed with my lap top or when the words really fly I sit with a pen and paper. I write it all out. I write my emotions and my plans, often my shopping list, on good nights my dreams, my regrets (ugg yes those are the fun nights), my memories and my favorite is to make my list of people and things I love. I write letters to my friends and to my family that I will never send and some that I do share. Some that I send later in a text message or read the bullet points off in a phone call, and some that I hand deliver with a drawing or a doodle on the envelope to cover up the stain from my tea or wine I spilled while writing. Sometimes they get delivered wound up like a rung out towel, because I slept with it in my hand. I write letters to my best friend, Steff, that I lost last year and in moments alone in our favorite spot I sink them in the water a place where we hold so many memories. In the evening my emotions are raw as my mind is tired and cannot filter or logic them away. I let them run across the paper rather than across my day. Writing them out makes them real and makes me acknowledge I am real.
I run out in my workouts all that I write out the night before. Sometimes I carry the writing with me and read it back to myself or share it with others; sometimes that happens mid-workout. Sometimes I run around the lake and meet my memories with Steff and I sit with her memory and the words she encouraged me with and made me believe in me with. I have surrounded myself with people that love me and encourage me in this, motivate me and hold the standards high so I know I have to work to reach them. My list is long of things I used to share with Steff. Writing, running and encouraging are three that we loved to share together.
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| Steff and I after finishing our first Triathlon |
In the timeline of Steff and I's friendship I missed talking to her only a couple of days while she was traveling. She checked in on me everyday outside those couple days and she built me up and I returned the love right back to her. We always ended long chats with letting one another know we loved each other and after we hung up the phone or arrived at home we secured our encouragement with a text message reminder and wrap up of encouragement. (Write it out) She encouraged me to be me and made me secure in my belief that love always wins, showing up for everyone with love is always the right choice. Even when it's uncomfortable, love always wins.
Steff was my faithful encouragement and she loved running and she loved running with me. I know she loved running with me because she told me every time we ran together :) (Encourage one another) She was always seeking greatness in herself and in others. She has many medals from her achievements in running events, however, she really wanted to conquer the 10K distance. I have always been in love with the half marathon distance and I tried to push her into that love with me and she did achieve that feat twice and she was so proud. For some reason there are not a lot of 10K races in our area and she really wanted to check this box off her race list, so she said she was going to create her own. Steff wasn't here with us, but she did create her own. We have the Steff Strong 10k/5k and kids run established as an annual event in Steff's honor. In it's first year the event did the all three topics of this post by the 100's. People that had never ran were encouraged to get up and do a 5k and many that had never thought of doing a 10k achieved it! People literally from around the United States ran it out in her honor in her hometown! Then finally social media exploded with posts of encouragement, success, pride as people wrote it down!
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| Finish line of Steff Strong Race |
Hope to see you all next year at the Steff Strong event. Save the date: September 9, 2017....write it down and encourage your friends to run it out! ;)
