Breaking Records

This week I (Melissa) have a little bit of a history lesson for you. It all starts in 490 B.C. in Marathon, Greece. It was then that an army from Persia invaded the city. Before the Persian army arrived, a messenger was sent to Sparta to send for assistance. However, the people decided that they were not going to wait for the Spartans to arrive and began fighting. Against the odds, Marathon came out victorious. The legend then goes that a runner was sent to Athens to spread word of the victory. His journey was 26.2 miles from Marathon to Athens. The story ends with the runner proclaiming, “Rejoice, we conquer!” He then fell dead to the ground.

As you may have guessed this is the story that is now the history of the modern marathon. To most the idea of running a marathon sounds like a nearly impossible feat. Heck, the first guy to do it died! However, the coach of our team, Teresa Shear, recently ran a marathon in San Diego. (She did finish the race and lives to tell of it) Teresa’s lofty goal inspired me to set a new goal for myself, to do something I had never done before - run a marathon.

Now I ran some track in high school. Mind it was mostly short distances, maxing out at 200 meters. So I was a little nervous to take on such a big challenge for myself. But if you know me, you would know that I am always looking for the next thing to challenge myself with.

Since I have never run more than a mile at altitude I figured I should start small. Goal 1: Complete a half marathon. About two months ago I started looking around for a good half marathon. I ended up deciding on the San Francisco Marathon, First Half. The marathon was set to happen on July 29. That meant I had to start training right away. With Teresa’s help I found a good training schedule and began. The schedule involved one long run a week on top of numerous 2-3 mile runs, speed training and yoga. I always cringed a little when I looked at the calendar and saw the big mileage day staring me in the face. But once I finished it always felt great.

Fast forward a month. It’s July 27 and I’m getting on the plane to head out to San Francisco. My former teammate and good friend Katy Kainer who recently moved to California was there to pick me up. Amidst all the nerves it was great to have a familiar face and a supportive friend there for me. Fast forward just a bit more to Saturday night. I was so nervous! My mind started to play the “what if” game, which is never a good idea. What if I can’t find the start line? What if I miss my wave? What if I don’t finish the race? Finally, I fell asleep.

Sunday morning. Ironically, the same day that I get nervous/excited for during football season. Katy dropped me off at the starting point and the first “what if” was eliminated; I found the start line. I then found my wave and at 5:45 AM we were off.

For those of you familiar with San Francisco, the race started near Fisherman’s Wharf, ran through Fort Mason, along the coast and the famous seals. We then ran to the Golden Gate Bridge, across it and back. From there we headed through some (pretty steep) city streets and ended in Golden Gate Park. It was the most beautiful course I could have hoped for. I totally lost track of how far I had gone since I was so busy looking at all of the scenery. And just like that I was done; I had officially finished my first ever half marathon.

Along the course there were some quotes and trivia posted for your running entertainment. One quote in particular stuck out to me through the entire race and then again at the end. You will have to forgive me if I slightly misquote since my mind started to go to my achy muscles around mile 10. “In the face of adversity, some men break down while others see it as an opportunity to break records.” I may not have broke any records that day but I did break my own. I think that’s what life is really about. Maybe we can’t break Olympic Records or the all-time sales marker at work. But we can set our own goals and despite whatever adversity we face, go on to break that goal and possibly surpass it.

All of you out there in Broncos Country are quite familiar with the adversity that our team has faced in the offseason. I truly believe that as an organization we will not see this as a place to break down, but instead as an opportunity to break records. The team, the coaches, the cheerleaders, and the fans. As the season gets closer it is more and more important to remember that it’s not the past that defines us, but rather what we do with our futures. So here’s to the start of training camp and another season!! Let’s go out there and break our own records.

Oh and yes I will be running a full marathon. In fact, I can’t wait.



- Melissa Aust (8/2/07)