It Takes Courage

Well, I guess the San Diego Marathon kicked a lot of RBF butts. Some, sadly, before they were even able to get to the starting line. But I learned something from each of you and will carry it with me to Grandma's. So a big, fat, CONGRATULATIONS to all of you. You trained, you ran, you rocked!

Last night was motivation night at our group. The National Running Director for LTF (we just call him Dan) joined us and we ran around the track -- three miles marathon pace with a shag in between miles. He had us play mind games. The first mile was the beginning of the race, where you feel great and you run too fast. The second was the middle of the race and he had us run too fast, then practice slowing down by shortening our stride rather than putting on the brakes. I guess that's to keep us from hurting ourselves. The final mile was Mile25 and he wanted us to GO FASTER. As if! Dan ran the final lap with me and told me when I run in a group to keep my eye on the hip of the person just ahead of me. I practiced with him and felt like a race horse being put through its paces. But it was COOL! We stayed in step the whole lap.

Back at the club, Dan gave tips and inspiration. He's full of great stories. He told us about Tony Schiller, who was racing the Ironman in Hawaii and how he had dislocated his shoulder during the bike race, then in the running segment realized that he wasn't going to win and he had gone there to WIN. Sitting down at the side of the road, he decided to just wait for the EMTs to come give him a ride to the finish. As he sat there, a man and his son came by. They were still biking. The son had Cystic Fibrosis and the Dad had to push his son in the water for 2.4 miles, then pick him up and put him on the bike (I'm not sure how), ride for 112 miles, then run a marathon while pushing the son in a carriage. This was their second Ironman attempt; they DNF the previous year because they missed the deadline in one of the segments by something like 30 seconds. They were biking and still had the marathon to run. As they passed Tony, the Dad looked at him and said, "It takes courage to finish." Tony thought about that and got up and finished the race.

This is a true story, but Dan told it better than I just did. I was trying to condense it. He said the father and son's name, but I don't remember them. I had to wipe away tears.

Before we went out to run, I expressed my nervousness about the upcoming marathon to Coach Jan. With two DNFs under my water belt, it's hard not to worry. As I was running to the track, slow and stiff, I started to question why I was even trying to run a marathon. Then I reminded myself that I better have an answer by marathon day or I'm toast. But the track workout went so well that I left feeling that a 5:30 finish was do-able. I gotta hang on to that!