Inspired

This past Friday, May 30th, Brad Bolding and Josh Stively, two personal trainers from our Plexus at Nemours location, ran around the Brandywine and Nemours buildings in downtown Wilmington as a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. They ran for a combined 8 hours, covering 56 miles, and raised close to $5,000. We had a race clock out front on the sidewalk, courtesy of Wayne Kursh from Races2Run. The University of Delaware Football Coach KC Keeler gave the official start of the run. A handful of Plexus employees were on the streets throughout the day talking to pedestrians about the event and raising awareness for heart disease.

Do you know that heart disease is the number one killer in the US? Over 800,000 people die annually from heart disease and the majority of deaths are linked to lifestyle choices. Brad and Josh wanted to do something radical to get people's attention so they came up with this idea. They wore Plexus green arms bands, head bands and socks that went up to their knees. Initially they got people's attention with their clothing – by the end of the day it was their spirits that had us paying attention!

Coach Keeler mentioned that these 2 men are more built like football players – neither of these guys are distance runners – what were they thinking? Brad and Josh began the day with injuries that I thought would prevent them from finishing. This added to the extreme message these guys were trying to send. I didn't give much thought to the event beyond the required planning prior to May 30th. I wasn’t really emotionally invested in what they were doing. This all changed during the second half of the day.

The day was a relay. Brad ran for the first two hours and then Josh ran the third and fourth hours. Josh hobbled across the line with a nagging hamstring injury. Brad ran the fifth and sixth hours and Josh the seventh and eighth. I never moved from the sidewalk for the second half of the day. I stood there, watching the clock count down towards eight hours, initially wondering whether these guys could actually do it. My doubt was quickly dissipated as I watched their faces. The volume of my cheers lessened and my emotions began to deepen. My inspiration from these two men grew lap by lap, as I saw their faces, full of focus and determination. 

The word inspired comes from the Latin root, spiritus which means spirit. I was inspired because I knew that with each step Brad and Josh took, a voice in their head would say, "Stop! You’ve done enough! The pain is too much! It is too hot! My hamstrings hurt!” This is the voice of ego – the voice of fear and doubt and the voice that holds all of us back in all that we do in life. Every time we listen and invest our attention into this negative voice, our spirits grow dim and we shrink back. We stop saying YES to life.

As Josh crossed the line, the clock read exactly 8:00 hours. I was so proud of these two men for the valiant display of what the human spirit is possible of accomplishing. They made a loud statement to all of those who saw them that day. Heart disease – in fact the majority of disease – is largely preventable if we would just learn to work with our own minds and recognize what lies within each and every one of us.