Cash on the Run – My Running Secret

We all have reasons for what drives us. For some it’s money to make a better life for them and those around them. For others, it’s the desire to win or achievement of a dream. Many believe that people have a secret motive for everything they do. As though you must be weird if you choose to do something out of the good of your heart.

Well, I have a few secret motives for why I run. Recently, I let slip one of the secrets to why I run. The person didn’t know I was intending to keep it a secret, but out it came. In fact, the conversation was over Twitter so there was no urgency to respond. I did not intend to ever let anyone know this secret, but let’s just chalk it up to be tired.

So here it is … my secret for the morning’s that I find myself dragging or not able to find the motivation to go out for a run:

I put cash under stranger’s windshield wipers.

Before leaving the house, I stuff a few one dollar bills into pocket. Throughout my run, I leave a $1 bill on strangers’ cars. I have many reasons for doing this and it is partly selfish. Randomly finding these cars gives me something new to think about each time I run. This mental distraction has resulted in some of the best running times that I’ve had. One could say that it’s karma or that I’m just not focused on the time.

As I run before dawn, the 24 hour King Sooper’s 6 miles from my house is the closest parking lot with cars. The journey over those 6 miles is filled with wondering how many cars will be there, what information I can gather from where the car is parked, and the types of cars. I look forward to finding cars that are parked away from the entrance. Maybe it’s someone that has to work the overnight shift and that $1 gets them a donut and a coffee. Who knows, maybe they buy a lottery ticket and turn that $1 into thousands! Maybe it distracts them for at least a moment of something that may be causing them heartache in their life.

Then again, I have had thoughts about how freaked out someone may get. The confusion on their face looking around the parking lot to wonder what is happening.

If I was to win the lottery, I would continue doing this but change the $1 bills to $20 bills. I realize that $1 is not much, but maybe it’s that small piece of hope that someone needs. Just as smiling at a stranger can turn someone’s day around, people want to be recognized that they exist. We are all busy, but take a moment to see what’s happening in someone’s life you see every day. The load is easier to handle if there is more of us to carry it.

It’s my small way of impacting another person I may never meet while motivating myself to do something for me. Anyone can do it. There are hundreds of variations to passively create a positive influence in someone’s life. For all I know, they tell someone about what they found which influences others to do a little something. Bake cookies for your neighbor, hold the door open for another, surprise a coworker with coffee. It doesn’t take publicity or money to change the world. All it takes is action.

How will you get involved?