Cool Runnings

There are not many movies that stick out to me from my childhood. I wasn’t into the typical fairy tale stories or madly in love with a certain princess. This may or may not surprise you, but I liked movies about sports. Mighty Ducks, Angels in the Outfield, and my very favorite was Cool Runnings!

I am no film critique, but I would argue that Cool Runnings is one of the most inspirational movies ever made. Four very different men join together to form the Jamaican bobsled team. To raise money for such a challenge, they did all types of fundraising. One teammate even sang a song, “Nuff people say, I know you can’t believe, Jamaica we have a bobsled team”. These men not only were challenged because of the lack of snow but were challenged because they only had three months to make it to the Olympics.

Although I’m not racing for a gold medal, I have been having some pretty major doubts about my upcoming races. I run my first 5K on July 30th in Billings, and it will be through mud pits and fire hoses. The next weekend I run my first official race here in Bozeman. I have been doing my best to train by running, but I just don’t seem to feel like I am enough. It is still easy for me to demotivate myself, and I’m starting to feel the pain of trying to run every day. The Jamaican bobsled team needed a country of support and to believe in themselves. I have the country of support; I just need to break the barrier and start to believe in myself.

When the coach of the Jamacian bobsled team was talking to the most important team member about what it means to win an Olympic gold medal he said, “Derice, a gold medal is a wonderful thing. But if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it”. Derice responds, “Hey coach, how will I know if I'm enough?”. That is when the coach says, “When you cross that finish line, you'll know”. I cannot wait to cross that finish line in less than a week and know that all I have been working towards was enough. That I am enough to motivate myself to be the best me I can be.

Feel the rhythm! Feel the rhyme! Get on up, its 5k time!

One Less Day