BY: REBECCA NELSON

Every runner has a story, and I am a serial plagiarist.

It started slowly at first, with sounds. The consonants are our staccato footfalls, the vowels our effort-filled breaths.

The words. Some days you provide the adjectives I need. Other days I take the adverbs I require.

We move forward down the road, across the page, together.

But words and sounds were not enough.

I hunger for your STORIES. They are what I prize above ALL else. I snatch them from the air. I bring them into my body. I make them mine, too.

***

Chop the wood, carry the water. Kate Grace

There is no secret. Keep going. Oiselle

I show up for people, and show up big. Emma Mcllory

I breathe in strength, I breathe out weakness. Amy Cragg

My weight has nothing to do with how good a runner I am. Allie Keiffer

Goals are often simple, but never easy. Kelly Roberts

We have to build the houses. Sally Bergesen

It doesn’t get easier, you just get stronger. Brianne M. Kohl

Not today, motherfucker! Kelly Herron

Be brave, get ugly. Oiselle

Pain is a door. Meg Murray 

I'm going to finish … on my hands and knees if I have to, because nobody believes that I can do this. Katherine Switzer

Plot twist! Devon Yanko

Stretch your limits ... and then stretch a little more. Steph Rothstein

Replace can’t with maybe, lady. Alexi Pappas

I’m doing it! I’m not sucking! Ellen Moss

Balls! Lauren Fleshman

Everything you want is in front of you. Shalane Flanagan

I quit the quitting. Beth Baker

I can do hard things. Nicole Antoinette

***

Maybe you aren't in my next chapter. Maybe I'm not in yours. But I have a piece of your STORY.

I will keep stealing from you. And I will never forget you.