The 26.2 miles runs grew on me as I looked forward to training for them throughout the year. That meant getting up at crazy hours of the morning to get training runs in.
Rain or shine, I was out on the street or beach running while normal people were sleeping. I had made changes to my diet to get “mean and lean.” I remember my sister-in-law, who had not seen me for a while, saying to me, “You look like you have AIDS,” because I had lost so much weight in training.
Besides the endorphins high and the desire to feel fit, why had I taken up running marathons? I was a sprinter in my early years, why did I turn to distance running?
I ran because I could run; yes, I could run long and hard to escape, even for a moment, life’s tensions. It was linked to accomplishments and running out the unfinished business of my childhood trauma.
I could not run then, but now I had enough endurance to run my personal best, to see the trees, to see the sky, to see the ocean, to remind myself that building endurance was a process.
I recalled when I first started training I could not run a half a block without being out of breath. I kept at it with determination, and before long it got easier and easier–half a mile turned into a mile, a mile turned into two.
Praise God for using my participation in marathons as a reminder of the miles I had already completed in my life journey: the experience of an alcoholic father, the death of my oldest brother, the shame of being sexually molested, the two near death encounters…”1
Child Sexual Abuse Statistics
Studies by David Finkelhor, Director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center, show that
· 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys is a victim of child sexual abuse;
· Self-report studies show that 20% of adult females and 5-10% of adult males recall a
childhood sexual assault or sexual abuse incident;
· During a one-year period in the U.S., 16% of youth ages 14 to 17 had been sexually
victimized;
· Over the course of their lifetime, 28% of U.S. youth ages 14 to 17 had been sexually
victimized;
· Children are most vulnerable to CSA between the ages of 7 and 13.
Robert Hendricks, former marathon runner, sexual assault survivor, and now Founder of Cry Heard Support Inc., as well as Board members and volunteers will lace up their running shoes to participate with many others in the Cry Heard Support Inc., Walk Towards the Cry 5K Run/Walk. The event is scheduled for June 24, 2017, and is an effort to raise funds to increase awareness and prevention of Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking, or “modern-day slavery.”
Walk Towards The Cry 5K Run/Walk
8:00 a.m.
El Dorado Park East Regional Park
7550 E. Spring Street
Long Beach, CA 90815
Reference
1. Pastor Hendricks, Robert. From a Cry to a Shout. Tarentum, Pennsylvania: Word Association Publisher, 2006
Cry Heard Support, Inc. 