I was the first to enter the contest and I thought that would give me the edge I needed to win. It wasn't too long after my post that the second one came in about a guy who was on dialysis three days before running a marathon and now he was having a kidney transplant and still running. Suddenly my post was feeling inadequate. But it didn't stop there. The next entry was a girl who had been hit by a car while running and how she was still running after than. The next entry was a guy who had lost 90 lbs. Oh and then there was the guy who's ankle was composed mostly of screw to reconstruct it.I was never a runner but after 42 years I decided to give it a try. It wasn't easy and I felt foolish in my initial attempts. Even a year and a few months later I have a hard time calling myself a runner and yet I go running regularly, have run 5Ks, relay races, and am signed up for my first half marathon in June. The determination has kept me going and in the process I've shed around 40 lbs. I run like an animal!
Had any of them posted before I entered, I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have even bothered trying. After all I would vote for any of them over me. But being the competitive guy that I am (and, yes, I am competitive) I kept soliciting my Facebook friends to vote for me. In fact towards the end of the contest I added this to my solicitation for votes: "Don't let the dialysis patient win!" If someone didn't know me they would think I was horrible person. But it was really me saying "I know I don't deserve this one." My favorite response came from my buddy, Stephen. He said, "Brian Borup, you let him win!" :)
In the end the dialysis patient did win. At least this was one time where I could feel good about losing.
