For the past three years I've been trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon. It's led me to run thousands and thousands of miles. It's humbled me. Expanded my limits. And changed how I perceive life.
I've always heard that the destination is not near as important as the journey. Now I know that to be true.
In the summer of 2017, I was sitting around with some running buddies talking about upcoming races. My friend and coach, Josh, and I were talking about how cool it would be to qualify for the Boston Marathon. He had never ran a marathon before, and I had never been able to run a fast enough time to qualify. At that time, the fastest I had ever ran was a 3:09. The qualifying time for my age group is at least a 3:05.
We decided this was our goal. He created an experimental training plan and the work began. It was just the two of us. Then another friend joined named Dan. Then another friend joined named Grover. We nicknamed our group "the wolfpack."
Anyone that's ever qualified for Boston knows the amount of dedication and work that goes into it. Months of training. Countless hours on your feet. Speed workouts. Long runs. Injuries. Fatigue. It really requires a lot from a person.
We endured it all together as a group. We logged hundreds of miles together. The group bond grew stronger and stronger leading up to the race. We created a pacing strategy for the race and practiced it many times in some of our runs. Everything was looking perfect. We were all in the best shape of our lives.
The race was the Gulf Coast Marathon. It was a very fast, flat course along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The scenery was fantastic. The weather was perfect. It seemed that nothing could go wrong.
The goal for the group was to all run sub 3 hours. Our training and times reflected that would should be able to do that.
The entire race was a blur. It all happened so fast. I can just remember with about 1.5 miles left and I look down at my watch. I was going to really be cutting it close. My impromptu math told me that I would finish a little over three hours if I didn't pick up the pace. So I did.
The finish line was on the Biloxi Shucker's baseball field. Runners ran onto the field, along the outfield fence, and crossed the finish line. As I entered the field I could see the official race clock across the field. I still had about a 200 yard run left ahead of me. The clock read.... 2:59:01.
RUNNNNN HARDER!
I knew in my heart it was done. Suddenly I could hear the people screaming. I could see friends and family cheering me on. I had been waiting for the moment for years. I was so elated that I just up and slapped the time clock as I crossed the finish line.
As I crossed, my fellow Wolfpack members were there to congratulate me. This was AMAZING. WE did it. We all qualified for the 2019 Boston Marathon. Months of hard work, dedication, commitment, and teamwork paid off.
WELL.......
Days later a friend sends us a group text message. You could tell by the tone of the text that something was not right. He heard that people were looking the race and reported that it may have been short.
OH NO.
It turned out that the race was indeed short by 0.295 miles. WTF? Here's the news story about it: http://www.sunherald.com/sports/article189356009.html
After receiving an email from the race director about the course discrepancy, we were all distraught. The team talked it over and we knew we had two options. Give up or keep fighting.
We talked it over and decided that the outcome of that race does not dictate who we are. WE decided to step up and run another race. WE will qualify together. WE decided to run the Rock n Roll Marathon in New Orleans on March 4, 2018.
We could have been angry. We could have cast blame. We could have pointed the finger. We could have blamed others. But... WE decided to keep going. WE will qualify in March.
I think about something someone asked me recently. After I ran my first 100 mile race someone asked me how I did it and without thinking I quickly replied, "One step at a time."
Runners know. This is what we do. We keep going, because in the end we are the master's of our destiny. We control our outcomes. We run because we love it.
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Now that a little time has passed we can all actually look back and laugh at this race sticker 😝 😱 😝
