Читать книгу Running Crazy - Imagine Running a Marathon. Now Imagine Running Over 100 of Them. Incredible True Stories from the World's Most Fanatical Runners - Helen Summer - Страница 3

I have always considered myself a lucky person – not because everything in my life has always been rosy – I reckon I’ve had my fair share of thorns, but because every now and again something rather special happens unexpectedly.

Being given the opportunity to write this book was one of them. Meeting the gals and guys from the 100 Marathon Club was another. The two are, of course, inextricably linked and both have given me immense pleasure.

The first because it has long been my dream to be published; the second because occasionally we come across a person who is so uniquely special that we feel our lives have been enriched merely by meeting them. To meet over 30 such people within the space of nine short months as I have through the 100 Marathon Club, is more than lucky, it is a privilege and an honour.

It has also been humbling. Not least because these people are ordinary, every day people who have not been given any special privileges, in some cases quite the opposite – some have even had to fight quite literally for their lives, and yet they have achieved so much. And what is most admirable is that they have done it all by themselves.

For each of them set their own challenges – whether to raise money for charity, run faster or further or simply to add another marathon to their numbers, and each of them works hard to achieve them. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they don’t, but they never give up. They have the courage and determination to keep on trying, no matter what.

But it doesn’t end with what they want to achieve for themselves. They also support and encourage each other in their endeavours and there is always a shoulder to cry on when things don’t go to plan. Through their sport, they demonstrate all that is good in the human spirit and the most positive aspects of man’s innate nature. They are also friendly, fun and a joy to know and I cannot thank them enough for the willingness and warmth with which they welcomed me into their remarkable ‘family’ and shared their stories and their lives with me.

I stand in awe.

Helen Summer