Gratitude

Here's a link to a story I saw while in Arizona. I'd e-mailed it to myself, but only read the story today.

It's a column by a runner injured so badly she couldn't run the Rock'n'roll marathon she'd dreamed of training for.

It's well written and makes me thankful that I've never had an injury that bad. At least not yet. And I can still run OK at this point with my nagging foot problem.

Here's the lead to Jill Redhage's good column on missing the marathon:

In Ray Bradbury's short story "All Summer in a Day," a little girl moves with her family from Earth to Venus, where the sun only shines one hour every seven years. She's the only one in her class who remembers it. But when the sun comes out, her classmates play a cruel prank, locking her in a closet until after sunset. She's devastated by the loss of such a rare and brilliant opportunity, one for which she'd waited so long.

I miss running like Margot misses the sun.

It also reminds me of why I have less interest in playing basketball and other sports now. No sport compares to running really and I'd hate to get injured doing something that wasn't as fun and satisfying as running.

So I'm thankful that I can still run and hopefully this minor injury will go away with the help of the foot specialist I'm going to see. Or maybe even before I get there to him.