Tyson: “I aspire to endure.”

Find the blog of mother runner/triathlete Tyson Cluever here.

Before 2010, my running consisted of laps for conditioning for junior high and high school sports. I was never fast, but I wanted to be fast. I really did. I tried my hand (foot?) at track as a 7th grader. I told the coaches I wanted to be a sprinter and run the 100- and 200-meter dash, just like the other girls on the track team. They looked at me and all 140 pounds on my 5’ 2” frame (I’m of Norwegian and German descent; I eat meat and potatoes. ‘Nuf said.), and told me they thought I’d be a better distance runner. I told them no way was I doing the mile run—it seemed too far and too hard. So, at the next track meet, I ran the 200-meter dash and participated in a sprint relay. Sprinting was hard, so I told the coaches I’d do the mile at the next meet. I never had a fantastic mile time and wasn’t one of those that trained to run a 5:48 mile. My best time was probably an 8:30 mile. After that I decided track wasn’t for me—it was too hard.

Tyson and her family.

After college, I got a job, moved home, quit smoking, got married, had my son, and finally decided to get in shape after seven months of carrying around an extra 40 pounds my little frame didn’t need. I started walking while pushing my son in the stroller and soon discovered I could handle some jogging intervals. Soon, I was only jogging, taking no walk breaks, losing weight, toning up, feeling better about myself and life in general, and my son was getting some much-needed fresh air. I was happy. Every day. I ran my first 5K in 39:45 and was hooked on this thing called running. Even though I was one of the last runners to finish that first 5K race, I finished. I did something not everyone can, or wants, to do.

Hundreds of training miles, a dozen 5Ks, two half-marathons, one marathon, and several triathlons later, I keep running and moving, to train for and reach for the next level. I no longer aspire to be fast: I aspire to endure. I aspire to inspire others to get up and move, to finish every race before the guy on the gator/four-wheeler/golf cart tells me to go home. I lace up each and every day because it is hard, because running is physical, because running is a challenge, because there are those in this world that can’t, because of the rush. I am a member of the elite club of runners, who choose to lace up every day, or a few days a week, for a few miles or for a lot of miles. I am now training for a half-Ironman triathlon in July.

I run to show that any goal is achievable as long as you have the determination, perseverance, and humility to continue on, to endure. I don’t finish in first place, but I finish. I don’t know who said it, but I love the saying, “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.” I am changed because of the challenges of running.