“Catching Kayla” caught my heart

Has anyone seen the sun lately? I haven’t seen it for a few weeks. I’m worried it migrated to the south and left us forever reeling under dark, grey skies. When the days get so dismally dark all the time, mustering the motivation for running gets tougher. That’s when I turn to the internet. Some days scouring my Twitter feed and seeing what my buddies are doing running-wise is enough to get me going. Other days I need stronger motivations; a hero or  superhero. And I don’t mean Supermen. I mean a superhero I can relate to.

My motivators are Ed Whitlock, breaking another age world record, or Meb Keflezighi  winning in Boston. Even more amazing than able-bodies heroes, the truly inspiring Canadian one-legged marathoner Rick Ball and now-retired father-son team Dick and Rick Hoyt. Often, just a thought of them is enough to make my legs all tingly and skipping in place with anticipation.

Last weekend I added another person to the list: Kayla Montgomery. She came to me in a tweet in which a grown man — a runner — admits that he’s bawling over a video. Who can resist such a bait? So I clicked. It hit me right in the heart.

Kayla Montgomery took up running after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. MS is a disease that damages the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The damage disrupts the ability of parts of the nervous system to communicate with each other and leads to slow decline of the body and mind. There’s no cure. Kayla thought she’d give running a try for as long as she can feel her legs, before she’s inevitably bound to a wheelchair. But, she fell in love with the sport and pushed well beyond that limit.

I’m a great believer in words as source of motivation. But with Kayla, the greatest motivation is what happens when the words fail, at the end of the race — of each race! Unable to stop her legs, she runs into arms of her coach and collapses.

Here’s a 13-minute ESPN video on Kayla. It’s worth every second.