Street Team!

My first marathon training went something like this: read EVERYTHING on running, run a lot, eat right, talk non stop about running, drink water, etc, etc. I read an article somewhere that said to put your name on your shirt so people could cheer for you. So, I went and bought iron on lettering. On the front I placed, "Donald JR" on it. On the back was "Marathon Virgin" My thinking was people would yell my name wildly as I approached them and people would send well wishes as they inevitably passed me up! 

VICTORY! 

It worked! 

People chided me that Donald SR had already passed me. They yelled Donald, Junior, JR. The enthusiastically clasped my shoulder at times when I was doubled over in pain and defeat as they glided past me. Yes, I had a street team of about 10 strategically placed, but for those 26.2 miles and 4+ hours my street team swelled to THOUSANDS! It was AWESOME seeing the first school group in the home stretch. We were on Bayshore (remember we call it BOYshore), the wind was slicing across the Bay, only 4 miles separated me from being a marathon virgin and a marathoner. Along the side, I saw a group of about 30 kids with those thunder sticks, cow bells, pom poms, etc. CHEERING FOR ME! These people didn't even know me, yet they came out on a Saturday morning to cheer me on to success. O-M-Goodness!

A lesson I have held with me since: people really do want me to succeed. Even people I don't know. If I put myself in the right environment, people WANT me to succeed. I said on a first (and subsequently only) date once that I thought it was impossible for me not to succeed at whatever I tried. I still do. Back on that January morning some five years ago on Bayshore Blvd , somewhere between mile 22 and 24 I realized that I, a youth worker and educator had received one of the most important lessons of my life, and it was from the very students I was charged with educating. It is a simple lesson and it is this: surround yourself with your own street team, look around, all these people want YOU to succeed. They're there to give you high 5's, cheer you on, provide a dollop of vaseline when needed, a smile when not. They are there to carry me when I cannot carry myself. They are there to ensure I succeed. How powerful.