When we do something, we never consider that it might become part of history. It may be a personal history, a family history, corporate history or part of a longstanding history.

By running in Greece, I became part of what some might consider a piece of ancient history. Yet when I ran in Greece’s Spartathlon, the thoughts I had, were only for the moment and I never assumed anything more would become of my participation.

Athletes live in the moment, it is sometimes called being in the zone or being focused. The performance is everything, if it is a great performance, then it may become part of the athlete’s history, sometimes called a personal best or personal record, or a PB or PR.

Those moments are cherished by athletes, but only until the PR or PB is broken and another set. However, those performances can become part of history if a record is set, a title is earned or something special happens.

Special moments can also be called defining moments. If a person does a thing that is life changing or what they do contributes to something special, they are indeed defining.

We have to look back at our personal history and put it under the microscope to get any sense of how it fits into others’ history. And it does become part of others’ history, whether we feel it does or not.

My defining moment was the day I started to run, for my health, then another when I decided to pin a bib number on and run in a race. As things progressed, other defining moments happened, I placed in my age group, then first in my age group, I placed first overall, I won a national title and I broke an American record and eventually, an age group world record and world title.

Those accomplishments garnered attention by area companies and eventually sponsorship. One of the first, Wigwam, offered me athletic sponsorship, but in return I offered them product testing and consulting. It became part of OUR history as athlete and athletic supplier. Helping develop a high performance sock starts out with the tester and developer, but ultimately ends up on average athletes and super stars feet and their history and all it entails.

One such athlete was Paula Newby-Fraser, a hall of famer at Hawaii’s Ironman, plus many other Ironman races throughout the world. Wearing Wigwam’s high performance socks enhanced her performances and enabled her to reach the pinnacle in her chosen sport.

Before I competed in my first Hawaii Ironman Triathlon World Championship, Paula instilled confidence in me, by telling me I had the advantage over others who were not runners, as the final leg was the one that I would look forward to, while others would dread it. Her advice was well taken and I looked forward to running to the finish.

My first international race was a defining moment for me, because it started an international running career and allowed me to run with some of the best runners in running history. This led me to return to Greece and eventually run Spartathlon, four times and the Athens Classic Marathon twice.

The performances and experiences I gathered internationally are some of the most memorable and some might say, historical.

In that light, I was asked by the LOC (Local Organizing Committee) of the Athens Classic Marathon to write of some of my experiences in Greece, to be included in a time capsule to be opened during the 2600^th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Marathon and Pheidippides’ legendary run.

Because everyone who is reading this will be absent when the time capsule is broken open, I will share with you, next month, what I wrote for inclusion in the time capsule.

See you in a few miles….roy