My Hero: The Second Edition

Remember this guy?  Well this past Sunday my nameless hero was back.

He skated three races: 333, 500 and 777 m.  In each of the races you could see he was skating his heart out yet struggling. On the last lap of the last race, he fell and slid into the mats.  The other two skaters finished the race and waited, he was the lone skater on track. He picked himself up and started skating only to fall again on his next set of crossovers.  We all watched as he picked himself up again. That’s when clapping began.  And pretty much everyone in the arena continued cheering him on until he crossed the finish line.  I heard a man in front of me say “That’s what this is all about–you fall, you get back up.” As my nameless hero skated off the ice he gave himself a little hands raised in the air victory cheer for finishing the race.

I cry a lot of happy tears at these meets.

But the story gets even better.  One of the women who raced with him (and has an amazing story herself) is from my speed skating class.  When I went over to chat with her after the race, she told me that not only was this his first year speed skating, it was his first year skating…EVER.

He is the epitome of not being the best but trying your best. So today when the results were posted I searched the Charlie group to find his name.  And damn if I’m not going to try to track down my now not nameless hero at the next meet to tell him how much of an impact he’s made in my life.

This man who I’ve never met has made himself a nice little space in my head.  Inspiration, you never know where you’re going to find it.

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