A dream that you do not fight for will haunt you for the rest of your life.
From the movie “Robots”

Sometimes it gets hard. Sometimes you get tired. Sometimes you care too much about what others think. “It would be much easier to want something normal. To want what you are supposed to want,” you tell yourself. But you keep going. You keep fighting for your dream and hope that the people who love you most will understand and love you more because of it.

When I keep my eyes on my own paper, I am most at ease with the choices I have made in my life. But once in awhile I look up, or to the left, and I see what someone else is doing. And it seems smarter than what I’ve chosen, or at least easier. That is when I am most open to the criticism of others. When the jabs of, “Are you crazy? Why in the world would you want to run for 24 hours. There must be something wrong with you!” hurt the most.

But then my alarm goes off at 4:50 and I put on my shorts, shirt, and running shoes. I go downstairs and have a cup of coffee by myself in the quiet kitchen. I head outside into the darkness of early morning, feeling like the only person on the planet, and being okay with that. And then someone says, “Good morning,” and I know they are there, the other runners. The other people with the same, but different, dreams. The people who are always waiting for me to run 6 miles, 10 miles, 20 miles. We talk about everything – our kids, our plans, our day, our frustrations, our weaknesses. And sometimes we even talk about our dreams.

We all have our own dreams, dreams that may not make sense to anyone else. Today, I hope to fight for mine. And whether I achieve them or not, I am enjoying the journey. I wish the same for you.