This one's for Jerry

Jerry Lynch is a well-known author on sports psychology having written probably several books over the past 15 years. He’s taken all the wisdom and applied to collegiate and professional athletes all over the U.S. If you want to know more about Jerry, check out his website The Way of Champions.

I know Jerry from running. He’s part of a group I started running with last September. He’s always in great spirits and I always seemed to have a hard time keeping up. The last run I did with Jerry was last October. The group started from the Red Lion Inn in Boulder Canyon, went up to the top of Green Mountain and back down. It was a beautiful fall day, everyone in shorts and great spirits. The uphill was tough. The downhill was a trip as I did my best to keep up with Jerry son’s Brandon, two fast female runners – and Jerry. They all looked like they were just floating down the mountain and it was all I could do to keep up.

A few days ago I saw Jerry again for the first time since then at a surprise birthday party for his 70 years on this planet. He spends his winters elsewhere. I learned that run up Green Mountain was the last time he ran. He’s been injured ever since. Before leaving Boulder he ran and ran and ran – getting his fill before he left. While it sounded fun by Jerry’s account, it was too much.

Jerry is a long-time runner – I think I’ve heard well past 30 years of running. This was the longest stretch he’s ever gone without running. What was remarkable in talking with him was how calm and peaceful he was. You could tell he missed running and was thoroughly excited about running to Boulder again several weeks from now and starting to run again.

Later I commented to Jerry about what I experienced in an email. He confessed it hadn’t been as easy as it seemed. He’d gone through the same thing every athlete does who experiences an injury does – bits of frustration, anger, depression. In the end ‘peaceful acceptance’ as Jerry put it is where he’s at mixed with the knowledge of all the blessings life has bestowed upon him.

Jerry is surely hero material here, someone to admire for the way they live. To be a human athlete and go through struggle speaks to his groundedness and humanity. To be a recipient of his own wisdom and live it with grace is remarkable. To know running is only one part of his life speaks to his completeness. To continually offer wisdom into the world is priceless. To live with the gratitude he has for what life has given him is beautiful.

Here’s to you Jerry …