not only

if you run, you are a runner.

no matter how fast or how far.
no matter the pace or the place.
no matter the reasons for stepping out the door.

if you run, you are a runner.

you can't fake it.  you run or you don't.

that is the beauty and the simplicity of the sport.

i think that most people who run  realize that.

but some?  maybe not.

someone who told me they are a runner said to me, just the other day,
"oh... you're only running a half marathon."

wait.  what?

only?

olympic marathoner kara goucher recently completed her longest run ever.  it was three hours long.  can i say that she only ran for three hours because i've run for a longer period of time? 

can someone who runs the 135 mile badwater ultra say that someone who runs the nyc marathon only ran a marathon?

can someone who runs 10ks say that someone else only runs 5ks?

can someone who runs 5ks say that someone who doesn't run races only runs?

"only" is a dangerous word.  it can be belittling.  it can imply that the person on the receiving end doesn't measure up in some way.  is no more than....  is merely....

when you see someone running (or in life), you cannot know their story.  you cannot know what they are dealing with, physically, mentally, emotionally.  you cannot know what they have been through in the past.  you cannot know what their lives entail on a day to day basis.

if you are standing on a starting line with thousands of other runners, you cannot know what each of them has been and done and gone through to be there.  but you can know that everyone has worked just as hard as you to be there.  you can know that you are all going to cover the same ground.  you are all going to start at the start and run until you get to the finish.  regardless of the distance between the start and the finish, or the time it takes to cover the ground.

because if you run, you are a runner.

there is no only about it.

stride on.