“Kindness is lending your strength instead of reminding others of their weakness.”
Channel: George Couros
Date: 2024-01-09

I wanted to say thank you to everyone for all of the kind comments & words about my dog Odom. He’s a fighter & I’m enjoying every moment I can.

With his cancer diagnosis last week, I’ve been having a hard time & struggling with the thought of running the Disney World Marathon. I had put so much work & training into it, but I wasn’t as excited to do it because I’ve been sad about Odom. He’s been with me through so much, & it almost felt selfish to run.

But I committed to the race, and got up early on Sunday morning to get ready.

Being earlier than I typically wake up, I let the dogs go outside instead of taking them for a walk. 

As I headed out the door, Odom ran to it, & looked at me like he was saying, “We aren’t going for our walk?” 

He’s 15 years old, sick & at that moment, with his big floppy tail wagging, he wanted to go for a walk. I couldn’t believe it. He looked exactly the same to me as when I first got him from the @edmontonhumane society at 6 months old.

That was him saying, “If I got the energy to get up & keep going, you should too.”

The entire race, with every struggle, pain and negative thought that came into my head, I thought of Odom & his tail wagging in the morning wanting to go for a walk. Not only did it get me through the race, he gave me energy I didn’t know I had.

While running, I thought of Odom & his enthusiasm in the morning, & seeing my family at the end. Those 2 thoughts got me to the finish line.

At the beginning of the race, a runner had shared how she’d been dealing with cancer for years, & postponed a treatment to this week so she could run the entire marathon. She then encouraged others to run their best race. I was amazed by her strength.

It reminded me of the quote, “Kindness is lending your strength instead of reminding others of their weakness.” 

Often, others are going through tough times and still give their energy to cheer on others.

When things get hard, ask yourself what & who is getting you to your finish line, whatever your race may be. 

With stiff legs, Odom, Cooper & I got our walk in before going to bed. Seeing their tails wagging was the perfect end to my day.