MARLBORO — So I ran a mountain today, if you can call 30-minute miles “running.”
But altitude - 2,200 feet of climb in the first three miles - and barometric pressure and blood pressure teamed up against me; my body rebelled.
I couldn't breathe enough. My head was spinning. For the first time, I was sure I wouldn't finish.
I climbed and cried; I stopped to breathe. Everyone had passed me. Even the man on crutches.
My heart broke to think that my body was failing me in running, the one way I test and find my own strength. My spirit broke. I wasn't going to make it past the first water stop.
And then a miracle happened - a miracle, out for a stroll downhill, with lemonade, a gentle voice, and an accent.
I don't know his name. I couldn't even tell you what he looked like.
But he earnestly reminded me how close to the pinnacle I was.
He gave me lemonade, and said (just so certainly!) “Don't stop! The hardest part is over; you can do it. We'll see you at the bottom!”
In that small moment, he reminded me what I was there for and how far I had come.
* * *
This is the thing I love most in life; this is the thing that is precious, and magic. It's the tiny thing we offer, just by being present, just by being ourselves.
We show up for one another when we are needed most, and we never even know it.
This man will never know how much that 10 seconds was worth; those few words were precious and brief and everything to me.