PUSH Celebrates Individual Victories
The PUSH 5k got underway on Saturday morning with nearly 50 participants.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – It was certainly one of the first really cold mornings in Iowa on Saturday. Frost was covering the grass, but that didn’t deter the people lined up to take part in the PUSH 5k Saturday morning.
PUSH stands for Persist Until Something Happens.
Approximately 50 individuals lined up to participate. Some ran, some walked, but for each it was a moment to be proud of.
Angie Noel is one of those individuals who helped start PUSH, and it all came from a simple idea, get up and walk and push yourself.
Noel and a friend started walking around town, and little by little, that group of walkers just kept growing.
Eventually, a Facebook group was made, and little by little, others joined that group. There, members would ask if another member would like to go for a walk.
Pretty soon, they were walking to enter 5k events, and eventually lead to some participating in gladiator assault types of events. “A few of us did some half marathons, and a few of us have completed a full marathon within the last couple of years,” said Noel of the group’s desire to push themselves.
“So it’s gone from two people to over 400 hundred,” said Noel. “Not all of those 400 are active on the page, but they are private messaging.”
Those private messaging Noel message to tell her they saw a post in the group, and it really inspired them, and they started doing something. “So it’s kind of like a chain reaction,” said Noel. “If one person does it, it kind of motivates somebody else and inspires somebody else. It kind of just goes like a domino effect.”
For Noel, the desire to get up and get active came after her father suffered a near-fatal heart attack. “So it kind of hit me that if I don’t start changing my ways, if I don’t start getting more active and maybe push myself a little bit more…”
Noel was worried that her son would see her go down like he saw his grandfather. “I don’t want that. So that kind of pushes me out there.”
Since that day, Noel’s father has attended every PUSH event that has taken place. The idea for the 5k came from her father and mother. “We should get together every year, just a group of us. From there, it just kind of took off.”
Noel then opened it up to the public. “It’s not a timed event. You go at your own pace, but we’re not going to leave until that last person is through that finish line. So, everybody just kind of goes out there and inspires each other. Some meet new friends along the way, and others kind of reunite with old friends. So it’s just kind of a time to get together and celebrate.
