An Encouraging Cheer

"The word is the most powerful tool you have as a human; it is the tool of magic."
-Don Ruiz, in The Four Agreements

Today was the kick-off day for my new Raramuri-Ruiz lifestyle. It was the perfect start.

I volunteered with my Triathlon Club this morning at a 5k that we have for Penn Staters called the Lactic Acid 5k to fundraise money for Tri club. Last year I volunteered on the course to stand in one spot and direct the runners on which way to turn, so I thought I'd do the same this year. The difference was that this year my throat hurt a little bit afterward from cheering so hard.

I stood in my little spot about halfway through the 3 mile course right beneath a steep hill which I was to direct them to run up. Before the first runner came through, I focused pretty hard on improving my juggling skills with three nearby rocks. I discovered that rocks are not ideal juggling tools after one hit me in the chin. The first runner came through looking like Leonitis from 300. He was ripped and fast. I cheered, but it was a weak cheer.

Then I thought of Don Ruiz's first agreement. He considers the power of word to be one of humanty's greatest gifts if it is used correctly. So I thought, 'how could I make each runner's day a little bit better by just using my words?' I was in the perfect place for some quality cheering, because they had to pump straight up a hill after they saw my smiling face. So I stepped up my game. It upset me that I didn't know everyone's name, but I wanted to make the cheers personal. Instead of inventing names like I wanted to do (I'm pretty good at guessing a person's name by their face), I started shouting out their numbers. I put all the energy I had into cheering for these people who came out on a beautiful day to work their butts off.

"Go 52! 103, you look fantastic! Attack this hill 4 & 5!!" I probably looked like an idiot. But who cares? They loved it. I don't know if I have ever been more appreciated. So many smiles were thrown my way and plenty of appreciative thank yous and nods were delivered as well. It felt good to make the race just a little bit better for a good amount of people. The ones who struggled the most appreciated me the most. Good for them to come out and do something they clearly did not want to do. They got the loudest cheers.

The word is a powerful, powerful thing.