MY HOPE SIGN

I really can't believe it's less than a week until the election. It seems like all the candidates vying for the presidential nomination were just here trudging through the snow. What will everyone talk and argue about once it is over? This presidential election has done more than affecting people's conversation, it has also affected my running. Not directly affected the actual running part but I have been inspired to run fast. So this is the story of how Obama has helped me run fast. (This story has a total bias because I love Obama. Now if McCain did the same thing as Obama, I still wouldn't support him but I'd like him a lot more.)

Obama has supported my running since February when track started. To get on the trail we usually run on, my team has to run about 3/4 mile to actually reach the trail. During this 3/4 mile there is a large hill. it doesn't seem too big when you drive over it or when you run up it on the way to the trail, but on the way back, especially after a long run, it seems huge. It is longer and possibly steeper on that side, but after 6 miles a huge hill isn't very fun. If you are running to the trail, at the bottom of this hill is an Obama sign. It's one of the inspirational HOPE signs. That means that when you are almost done with your long run and you see this big hill when you are tired, you also see a HOPE sign. Beginning in February, when this HOPE sign when only half this sign appeared over the snow, I was inspired by this sign. Before that track season I used to sometimes walk up parts of the hill because I was tired. When that campaign sign was there, I looked at it and hoped that I could make it all the way up the hill.

I began making a wish on the sign every time we passed it on the way back from our run. It was always running related, something like "I hope I can finish this run strong" or "I hope I can make it up this hill". This might sound sort of creepy because I was making "hope" wishes on a campaign sign in someones yard but I didn't walk up that hill during track season. When I made it to the state meet only a year after I wasn't able to run 6 miles without walking, my mom gave me a picture of a HOPE sign in part of her good luck wish.

During the summer I only ran by the sign once but the sign was there for me in other places. When the great floods came and the water went down, I found a flooded house that had a HOPE sign out front. They had to have put it up after the water came because there was no way that the flood could move a house but not a flimsy sign. To see this house all dirty on the outside, it was sad to see the HOPE sign sitting next to flood debris.

When cross country started this year, I had improved a lot and gotten a lot faster, but the HOPE sign was still there. I was so happy to pass that on the first day at practice because I had missed it. During the summer I had ran a route that had at least 10 signs along it, but since it was all flat it just didn't have the same feeling. Seeing the sign at the bottom of that hill made me charge up the hill and finish my workout strong just as I hoped I would. I walked up the hill once when my shins were hurting but I walked on the other side of the street, on the less steep side, on the other sidewalk because I would not walk past my sign or that side of the hill. I didn't walk up that hill for 2 seasons. Seeing the HOPE sign made me believe that I if I hoped and tried hard enough, I could run up that hill and finish practice strong. That inspiration always worked even as I passed the McCain/Palin sign towards the top of the hill.

At the beginning of October, the sign was just gone one day. I noticed it on the way there and for the rest of the run I was upset. On the way back while passing the spot were the sign once stood I made a "hope" wish. For the rest of the season, I made a wish when passing by the spot were the sign once stood. I don't know what happened to it, if the people who lived in the house no longer were Obama supporters, if it was stolen, or if it just went away one day. No sign replaced it's spot but you can still see where the HOPE sign once was. I know it wasn't always going to be there; after the election it would probably be taken out no matter who won, but I wanted that sign to finish the season with me. It had watched me improve and I had grown attached to my HOPE sign.

I know I could have gotten a sign to put in my own yard, but once Obama chose Biden, the HOPE signs kind of disappeared. I still want one even though the election is almost over. I probably wouldn't put in in my yard, but instead hang it in my room as inspiration. I always told myself that after the election I would steal that campaign sign, although that is very unlikely because I'm not that type of person, but it was MY sign. It had helped me run fast, faster than I have ever run before. I don't think they make them anymore because almost no one has them in their yards and I can't find one, but I still want one.

Not only has Obama inspired me with his campaign signs, but because he inspired the "Yes We Can" video, he has indirectly inspired me again. During hard sprint workouts in the heat, I would chant to myself "Yes we can, yes you can" as I ran the repetitive route. It helped get me through many workouts and after watching it yesterday, I find it still inspires me.




Even though elections don't always bring out the best side in people, they can still be inspiring in the most unusual ways. I am an Obama supporter but not only because of his campaign signs or his videos. That is part of the reason though. He has helped teach me that you achieving something great starts with a little hope. (Sorry for this incredibly long post that's the size of a small research paper, but I can't help it. Obama has just given me so much inspiration.)