I love running. I think that I’ve made that clear over the last year to anyone who will listen. I love the health benefits, the alone time, the sense of accomplishment that all come with running. I love the numbers that are so important to us as runners, whether it’s the weekly, monthly or annual totals or a PR (Personal Record) in a 5K, 10K or marathon. I. Love. Running.
But sometimes the running is not the point. Sometimes the running is secondary to what is really happening, even when we are in the middle of a run. On December 29th, 2009, a group of runners came together from all over the country to celebrate Michelle over at Running Down A Dream. She was completing her Quest for 1000. There were a few of us who had agreed on December 7th to run the final 105 miles with her before the end of the year. On the morning of the 29th, she had 0.38 miles left to complete her goal and was planning on meeting friends in Central Park to complete her 1000. Though I am a few hours north of her, I planned on running my final 0.17 miles with her (virtually). I waited for the appointed time (6:35 PM) and off we went.
Throughout the day people had posted their tributes to Michelle’s Quest by making short videos of themselves running a mile. Some were dedicated solely to Michelle, but others were dedicated to the larger dailymile.com community. The production quality ranged from the slick to the awful (that would be mine), but it got me thinking. This running thing is more than just running. I’ve alluded to it before in my Join The Party post. This running thing can be about community and finding a common bond to bring people from all walks of life together. Unlike religion or politics, I have found running to be a uniting force, not a divisive one.
What follows are the videos people submitted to the dailymile website to honor Michelle, you, me and all the runners who support each other on a daily basis. I would like to think that THIS is part of who I am:
Pete from Runblogger (who ran the whole 105 with Michelle & me)
Kathy from Run Talk Radio
Sarah J.
Caleb
John H.
Randy
Stephen R.
Matt L.
And without further ado…the Lady of the Hour: Miss Michelle!
Run Luau Run 
This is amazing!! All of these videos inspire me!!! I love the message and how you all teamed up and ran 1 mile for the same cause!! I was going to kick off my 2010 running again in January (ever since getting pregnant I have been sleeping and keeping my body idle wayyyy more thn running! but watching all of thes amazing videos has given me the fire inside to kick start my running bug again! Cheers to everyone for a job well done and to a safe and healty new year!!