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why we run 3 – tears of joy – love

as i watched the girl that had been struggling all week cross the finish line, completing her 250k journey, my heart was full of joy, and as she was enveloped by her fellow runners, i watched as the most beautiful of human emotions cocooned her in love, and i felt my own emotions build from within, to a place where i could feel the tears start to build.

i lowered my black sunglasses to hide them, trying not to draw attention to myself, but my face was full on crying, such was the moment.

there were approximately 30 runners and support crew at the ‘why we run’ finish arch at this time, but directly in my tear soaked eyeline, was an approximately six foot four, giant of a man.

michael.

an irishman, with a rich velvety accent, and an infectious laugh, and throughout the week, i had watched him battle his demons, pushing his body and mind to places that running a 50k trail course every day for five days will take you.

and upon my return home, searching michael’s social media account, i discovered he could very easily not have been with us on this pembroke based adventure, but thankfully he is winning the battle.

as my face contorted, i noticed michael start to walk in my direction, and it very quickly became apparent he had seen my badly disguised tears and was heading towards me.

we spoke no words, as he hugged me with the most comforting hug a relative stranger has ever given me.

he knew.

i knew.

the depth of emotion that this ‘why we run’ event had created between 46 runners, support crew, physios, photographers, etc, was like a magic elixir, that if able to be produced and bottled, would probably solve a lot of our worlds ills, such are it’s magical powers.

i have spent some time during and post event trying to understand the beautiful and comforting warm waters we all immersed ourselves in and swam together in for this amazing week, and i have distilled it down into one word.

love.

love for other humans.

i have never witnessed such selflessness from everybody involved.

whilst i saw people struggling physically and emotionally, i never once saw any anger or negativity, in any way.

lewis robling created this raw, unpretentious event to complete his promise he made to fundraise £25,000 for bigmoose.

just think about that for a minute, twenty five thousand pounds.

that is probably more than 99.99% of the worlds population will ever fundraise in their lifetime.

but lew hasn’t stopped, and he has infected his why we run community with the same drug he possesses.

and after three why we run events has raised over £125,000, overachiever or what ;P

this years why we run team have blown my mind, by raising over £80,000 to date, which just shows the power of teamwork and determination to all work together toward a higher purpose, helping others, and i had multiple conversations with runners telling me the week was the best week of their lives, and i think this event will be the catalyst for some amazing changes in people’s lives, so watch this space.

so, to summarise, last week was for me personally,  further confirmation that a community is more powerful than an individual, but communities need a leader, someone brave enough to take action and lead, as without lew taking action ‘why we run’ and all of the good stuff wouldn’t exist, so, this week, let’s all have a go at being a bit more lew, who knows where it will take us.

bigmoose stats update: september was our highest ever month for referrals at 200 for the month, and we are now at 71 lives saved from suicide, so thank you for your support, in all ways.

see you next week, when i’ll have news of the biggest bigmoose event we’ve ever attempted.

blue skies,

jeff

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