“I’m positive that I will be able to run tomorrow. But if I cannot run tomorrow, I will be positive because I ran yesterday.” – Denise Benson

Dedicated to Coach Benson,

I’m writing to share a story. Not my story, but the story of my high school cross country coach, Denise Benson. For a while, I’ve struggled with taking a story full of so much emotion and depth, and turning it into something beautiful that people will want to read. I have finally come to the conclusion to do what I never do with my writing: write like I would tell it, because that’s the most honest way to write something.

When I was in junior high, I joined the cross country team. After six years of attempting to play soccer with little success or enjoyment, I decided to try something that involved a little less coordination. Running: why not? My seventh and eighth grade years of running were fine. I wasn’t fast and it was nothing overly special, but it was better than soccer. The summer after eighth grade was when high school running club would start, which is an unofficial practice before the start of the season in August. At first, I really didn’t know if I wanted to run in high school. I didn’t think I would be good, and it was going to be a lot harder. My parents encouraged me to stick with it, so I suppose I should thank them for that. I spent most of that June and July running the least amount possible, sticking with about two of my close friends on the team. However, once August came, it was official. The season had started, and our team was off to camp for a few days. I’m a fairly reserved person, so I didn’t plan on opening up or getting to know many people. That’s just how I am. One night, though, everyone on the team – all 60 of us and our two coaches – gathered around a campfire and all of us were required to share something about ourselves. The coaches called it team bonding, I called it “Oh crap, we have to talk to each other.” We shared team goals and individual goals, and then our coaches stood up and shared some things about themselves. Coach Benson said she saw something really special in the group of athletes that year. She said she wanted to share her story with us. I had no idea that the words she was about to speak would change my life and the way I viewed simple privileges all of us take for granted, such as the ability to walk.

Coach Benson is from New York, and she explained that when she was young, she was on the cross country team herself, and she was fast. So fast, actually, that she was training for the Olympics and has records that haven’t been broken to this day! Somewhere along the line, though, she developed some sudden, serious, and unexplainable health problems. Coach Benson not only became paralyzed, but was told by doctors that she would never walk again. She was in serious pain, she was confused, and she was devastated. Her life had just been turned upside down, and in the worst possible way. She questioned God, asking, “Why me?” She was a good person. What did she do to deserve this terrible fate? However, with help from God, she overcame her feelings of despair and decided she was going to overcome this obstacle no matter what her doctors said. With much prayer, she changed her attitude and decided she would walk again, so she taught herself. Day in and day out, she slowly taught herself to walk again, and eventually, to run again. She knew she would never be an Olympic runner, so she decided to be something even better: a cross country coach. She became a coach so that she could be an inspiration to others and help young runners become their best selves, learning to persevere through all obstacles. Since then, Coach Benson has had countless health problems – more than she should ever have to go through. Thyroid problems involving hallucinations and memory loss, a near death experience, vocal cord problems, gallbladder problems, numerous surgeries and other health scares that, ordinarily would knock a person down and keep them down for a while. Coach Benson just keeps on getting up, though.

She is the only coach I know to design workouts down to the second for each and every one of her athletes, and run them with us. Every hill workout, mile repeat, Indian run and long run, she was never there at the finish to cheer us on…because she was right there next to us, running by our side: an example of what it means to be a strong person and a motivation to everyone. Her team has won numerous state titles, and that couldn’t have been achieved without an extraordinary coach like her standing by our side. I may have graduated and moved on, but I will forever be inspired by all that she has taught me. I will always be a runner, and I will always have her amazing story to share with others. Coach Benson is one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met and will ever meet, and I wish everyone could know her. Her strength, motivation, kindness, and passion are a gift to the world, and I’m so thankful I had the opportunity to learn from her. People share stories of "angels on Earth," and if those stories are true, Coach Benson surely must be one of them.