Bloom where you're planted

My neighbourhood is not exactly an active person's paradise: The streets are narrow and busy; the sidewalks are uneven and littered with obstacles; and the severely slanted road surface has ITB written all over it.  On top of all of that there's also Cindy.  The one direction in which a run would be half bearable, has Cindy.  Cindy is a dog with an attitude with an owner who has no clue - she's leachless, fenceless and loves to charge.  And every single one of the gazillion times that we've been charged by Cindy, her owner has had exactly the same response: "His (?) name is Cindy!".  No excuses, no reprimanding Cindy; just a big, toothless grin.  Uhm, okay...   

Anyway, knowing very well that I still have a lot to be thankful for, I decided to do a bit of research on fellow runners who kept at it in less than ideal conditions.  And I discovered a wealth of inspirational stories.

Like the inmates at the Pretoria Central Prison in South Africa who have been training for ultra marathons on a 200 m loop located inside the prison's premises, and more recently also on donated treadmills, for over a decade.  They've completed, amongst other races, a virtual Bonitas City to City 50 km, as well as a virtual Two Oceans 56 km, with one of the inmates missing the silver medal cut-off time of four hours with only five minutes.  Wow.  

[Source.]

Or the countless soldiers braving life threatening conditions in war torn countries in order to run.  For both fitness' and sanity's sake. 

[Source.]

And suddenly Cindy pales in comparison.  Nothing like the big picture to remind you that you're richly blessed.