Who inspires you?

Today was the day for a tempo run. I love them when I feel good and fast. You just feel like your limbs are liquid and you can move like the wind ( even if you're not going super fast). You get that familiar feeling of a little tweak or strain in your side and you just know you're in that working zone.

This morning on my run I was fortunate to run behind ( I can't keep up with her but can keep pretty close behind her) this woman that I have seen before. She keeps up a great pace and has great body mechanics. As a yoga teacher, I see all kinds of bodies and try to teach people how to bring their bodies into alignment. When you run, keeping your shoulders relaxed, your shoulders over your hips, your legs moving on one plane, your arms moving forward and back, bent at the elbows and hip height or a little higher- these are all the hallmarks of good running mechanics. This woman has all of that. So, she makes for a great inspiration when running.

But I also saw others that inspired me as well. The two older women, who must be in their 70's, whom I see walking together and speaking what must be Russian every morning. The guy that I saw get out of his truck to unload a recumbant bike and I noticed he was a below-the-knee amputee. The woman I see every morning, who must be struggling with her weight as she runs, but yet she's out there every day.

A friend sent me a link the other day to the story of Will Power, the two legged dog. It's an amazing story about a dog born only with his hind legs and he walks on them, upright, like a human. That's inspiring. The story of Tiger Woods, playing this past week on stress fractures and a knee a few weeks post-surgery. Smarty Jones, Barbaro, Big Brown.. race horses that inspire. Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Lance Armstrong ( the bike racer, not the serial dater!), rescue dogs.. these are all inspirations to me.

One of my yoga teachers used to say, "when you die, will you be an example, or a warning?" Today, think....are you an inspiration? Who inspires you?