By HPRS Staff Columnist Holly Rapp

With everything that’s happening, now feels like a good time to share my absolute favorite running article:  “Brett, Unbroken,” written by Steve Friedman for the June 2013 issue of Runners World.  I read it first when the issue came out and I still received Runners World in print. 

I’ve read it again countless times since then; I have no idea how many.  Because this is the essay I turn to whenever life gets difficult, whenever it feels like everything is going wrong.  I read it during these challenging periods because, as its title suggests, it carries a powerful message of courage and perseverance and it puts my own problems into stark perspective.  I hope maybe it’s something that will resonate with you as well during this difficult time. 

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“Bret, Unbroken” tells the story of Bret Dunlap’s life and his unlikely transformation into a runner, though it’s about so much more than running.  It’s written in intricately-detailed prose and told through a first-person format that some people don’t like but that I think makes it even more affecting and more compelling.  Narrating in this way forces you to see through Bret’s eyes, to try to understand what he experienced, at least as much as words can do such a thing. 

I don’t want to spoil the story, but you should know that Bret went through incredible hardship.  He endured the kind of suffering that few can imagine and had every right to become a bitter, angry person.  Bret, however, somehow found a way to come out of everything a better man. 

I’m not one for inspirational tales but Bret is just plain inspiring, even to a skeptic like me. 

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Even if you don’t read it, I at least want to share one of my favorite parts, a passage in which Bret muses about running and racing, about trying and putting yourself out there even if you’re scared, words that mean more coming from him:

            You feel bad for people who don’t enter races because they think they won’t do well. 

            Does that make any sense, you ask.  How are you going to do well if you don’t try?

Suffice to say, this point carries even more weight in the context of the article, but I think it’s worth considering here alone.  It’s an idea that I try to keep with me in more than just running, though it certainly applies there as well.

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I don’t know if Bret has any idea how important his story has been to so many people or what an impact it had on me.  The best way I can think to repay him is to tell others about him, to introduce his tale to as many people as possible.  It’s something worth remembering, something worth sharing, especially in challenging times like these.