Leigh’s Lessons – You’re Stronger Than You Think

This will be the first in a series of posts I’ll call “Leigh’s Lessons.”

In the book, Finding Strong, Chapter Six,  “Do You Want to Die a Slow Death or a Fast Death,” is very graphic.   Not so much the language, but the descriptions of what Daniel Lee did to Leigh, both physically ( the four counts of sexual assault to which he admitted) and mentally (his boasting to her of how he had killed Jeni Gray).  As Leigh and I were working on this section of the book, I asked her if she really wanted to be this specific in describing the assault.  I was concerned that it might be a little too much for some readers.  Her response was that she wanted readers to know that what she went through was truly horrific and that as they read the rest of her story to know that she recovered from the worst possible event.  She wanted readers to understand that “no matter what horrors you have experienced, you have the strength to recover, you can choose to regain control of your life.”

Leigh realized coming out of that experience that she had been given a second chance at life.  She vowed to make the best of it, not just for herself, but to impact everyone with whom she came in contact.  If you were ever an athlete training under her, if you were ever a student in one of her fitness classes, if you ever participated in one of her spin classes or Crossfit sessions at the Wellness Center, if you ever joined her on one of her daily runs, she took you to a higher level than you thought was in you.  You came away realizing that you are indeed “stronger than you think.”  She also talked about this in every speech she gave at Appalachian State’s  Walk for Awareness.  I’ve said it many times, and I’ve heard so many others say it as well, that Leigh was the strongest woman I’ve ever known.  Leigh was proud of being a strong woman and it was her intent to help everyone with whom she came in contact to find their strength.

Perhaps the most remarkable example of Leigh’s strength and how she influenced the strength in others was demonstrated at the running of “The Bear” in 1998.  “The Bear” is one of the most grueling races in the country, a 5-mile race from the village of Linville, NC  to the top of Grandfather Mountain (at 5,946 feet, one of the highest peaks east of the Mississippi River).  Elite runners from all over the US come to the high country every year to take on the challenge of “The Bear.”  In July of 1998, Leigh ran “The Bear” finishing second overall among women runners.  But she had also encouraged members of her high school cross country team to run.  Among her nine student athletes who ran that day, one finished fourth overall among women, and her male runners finished first, second, fifth, sixth, ninth, tenth, twelfth, and thirteenth.  To my knowledge, no group of runners or team, amateur or professional, has ever achieved such dominating results in a single running of “The Bear.”  Leigh ran “The Bear” seven more times after that, finishing first overall once, second three more times, fourth once, and fifth once.