Break a Leg

I think runners should have their own unique sentiment to wish each other well.  I’m on a mission to popularize a new expression of luck-sending in the running world.  Certainly a heartfelt good luck will never fall on deaf ears.  This classic hits the mark, as luck plays more of a role in race day than this control-freak would like (from the weather to flight delays to a shoe that never gave you blisters before suddenly giving you blisters to a FuelBelt combusting at 2K) and luck of the good variety is always welcome.  But sometimes good luck just doesn’t express all that I want to say.  That’s why I think runners need, nay deserve, their own phrase to convey all those best wishes for an enjoyable and successful (however defined, on both accounts) run.  Something with a poetic touch.  Something with history.  Something catchy.  Something runner-esque.

Theatre’s break a leg seems a foolhardy wish for a runner, even if the opposite effect is intended.  Let us leave the superstitious bone breaking to the actors.  I enjoy Irish blessings and one in particular seems to have been written for runners – may the road rise to meet you; may the wind be ever at your back – but it lacks the easy elegance of break a leg.  Another Irish contribution, fare thee well, has potential.  It is succinct and the message is befitting one about to embark on a 42.2K journey.  More modern wishes like may the force (course?) be with you are fun, but perhaps limited in appeal to children of the 1970s.  My aunt recently sent me a good luck email saying bust a move.  You need to remember the 80s to appreciate that gem.  Someone once suggested to me don’t get caught, which given my recent brush with the headphone police almost feels too right.  The challenging task at hand may command a bon courage in lieu of the more traditional bonne chance.  The courage not to quit has carried many runners over the wall.  Kick ass (or asphalt) is rather inspiring in its pointedness.  Carpe diem is another classic, but Dead Poets Society ruined that one for me.  Finding the perfect runner’s good luck wish is not an easy task.  Yet there is one phrase that, to my surprise, speaks to me.  Godspeed.  I like the simplicity.  I admit, I like that the word speed is contained within it.  I like that, according to Wikipedia, it means a wish for a prosperous journey, success, and good fortune.  It’s like good luck + all those other sentiments wrapped in one perfect word. 

Regardless of how the well wishes are offered, I intend to bottle them all up for release at the 20th mile mark.  Godspeed.