Scream Out a Number

Next week, my sister Amie will wake up on marathon Monday and run 26.2 miles on the historic streets of Boston. And lucky for me, I will be there to cheer her on at every mile. I will scream and shout, and yes, I will probably cry. For one whole day, my life will be completely secondary to the happiness and success of hers. And for that, I am thankful.

While seeing thousands of runners living out their athletic dream is pretty big, a close second is the sight of thousands of bystanders who come to cheer the runners on. I've been told that many of these people do not have someone in the race but simply show up to scream out from the sidelines the numbers of people they don't even know. They are there to throw their positive encouragement on the runners like you'd throw rice and rose petals at a wedding—liberally and without constraint. I have to say, I find this sentiment powerful—to cheer someone else on, someone we may not know, with all the genuine feeling of our hearts. To forget for a minute, an hour, or a day about our own big hills and long stretches and completely focus on helping someone else get through theirs. To me, it is a reminder that we are part of a larger world that gains nothing from our negativity and everything from our friendly and positive push.

 

So here's to the 2013 Boston runners and to every moment we spend believing that the success of a friend, or even a stranger, is as big as our own.