Running with a Purpose

I wish I could take credit for the title but it is actually the title of an article I read last night that touched me and prompted me to write here today although I have something else in the works for tomorrow...It was article in Runners World by Richard Murphy ( read it if you get the chance Oct 2008 Issue). The article hit me for several reasons. Its the story of a son who while waiting for his father as he had a malignant tumor, one the doctors compared to the size of a football or a small watermelon, removed at Memorial Sloan Kettering cancer Center in NY. notices a brochure for Fred's Team. For those that do not know Fred's Team is named for Fred Lebow, the father of the NYCM, he and a few others had a vision of a marathon in NY which started as a run completely in Central park and grew under his leadership to what it is today...traveling all 5 boroughs with 40,000 of your closest running friends....if you ever run another (or only doing one) run NYCM...its a tough course to run fast, its a tough course period but there is nothing else in the world like it...it is an experience that no one should miss...I digress....

So Mr. Murphy decides if his father beats the odds and survives , he will beat the odds and run a marathon....training is going ok until his 18 miler which he is going to run while visiting his dad, he has to limp home 13 miles in with aching knees. Mr Murphy recounts the look on his father's face when he saw him hobbling in the driveway which he describes as "his silent fear about his own health unmasked by the realization that maybe everything wasn't going to turn out ok after all." The Doctor tell Mr. Murphy that he has patellar tendinitis and he is done running for now. His father pled his case and explained why he was running the marathon..the doctor said there were other ways to raise money for cancer.

Mr. Murphy finds out a week later that his father's cancer has returned. This inspires him. "If my father could take on chemotherapy, I could take on the marathon.

Mr. Murphy finished the Dublin Marathon, although he never learned about Body Glide and suffered some chafing distress...he called his father and told him he had finished...his after lost his battle six months later....so you see some of what touched me in the story but here is the clincher....

Mr. Murphy taught me a lesson...when he wrote..." I would not feel cheated. I learned something on the streets of Dublin. In a marathon, success is all about shaving seconds off the time it takes to complete your journey. In life, its all about stretching time and appreciating the distance between each breath, something I did not appreciate until I struggled to breathe. To only have six months with someone you love may seem unfair.BUT IF YOU CAN VIEW THAT DISTANCE IN HOURS, SECONDS EVEN, IT SEEMS LIKE A GIFT."

I like many other seem focused on running from one task to another worried about getting everything done as quick as possible....I can say that I will slow down every day but I will try and remember Mr. Murphy's words more and more often and try and stretch that distance as far as I can as often as I can...and remember what the Penguin says "take your time during the race and get your moneys worth" At least in your first one and then worry about your time in the next one...no one can ever take away the title of MARATHONER OR HALF MARATHONER regardless of how long it took you or how many years ago you ran it....and if you are ever disappointed by your time remember what Richard Murphy wrote and then get in your car and go drive 13.1 or 26.2 miles away from your house and see what you accomplished.