Sunday, May 17, 2009. A day I have had on my radar for sometime. Not only because it was going to be the 1st marathon of the year, but quite honestly I had it penciled in for the day I broke 3:10, earned a punched ticket to Boston, and far more importantly than either of the first two, raised a heck of a lot of money in the RunForTheThree.
Under the circumstances I'm gladly willing to accept 1 of 3. Official finish time was 3:25:28 well short of my target 3:10:59 and actually almost 10 minutes slower than my last marathon in Columbus. Not exactly what I had planned, but it didn't matter because this day, this race, these moments were about paying tribute to a fallen friend.
The results of the RunForTheThree are incredible. Over $8,600 raised through more than 140 families and individuals. Absolutely amazing. I said it once and I'll say it again, thank you all so very much. I can't explain what this means to Sarah and her family. Sarah, the kids, and her parents were at the finish line and believe me when I tell you they cannot say thank you enough.
Under the circumstances I'm gladly willing to accept 1 of 3. Official finish time was 3:25:28 well short of my target 3:10:59 and actually almost 10 minutes slower than my last marathon in Columbus. Not exactly what I had planned, but it didn't matter because this day, this race, these moments were about paying tribute to a fallen friend.
The results of the RunForTheThree are incredible. Over $8,600 raised through more than 140 families and individuals. Absolutely amazing. I said it once and I'll say it again, thank you all so very much. I can't explain what this means to Sarah and her family. Sarah, the kids, and her parents were at the finish line and believe me when I tell you they cannot say thank you enough.
As for the race….I guess things don’t always go as planned. Over the last month and half I’ve been in a on again/off again relationship with my IT Band and race day it decided it had enough. As we were making our way back into the city from the west we hit a pretty good rise in elevation at mile 11 that just lit up the IT band. I was able to work through it and stay with the group as we crossed the halfway point at 1:35:25, right on time……that was until mile 17.At 17 we made a turn, up another rise and the IT lit up again, this time worse than before. It struck hard and I had to actually stop. It was at that moment the dreams of 3:10 came to a halt. The focus now shifted to finishing the race. I pushed on, asking myself how could something I had trained so hard for just go up in smoke? One of my greatest fears for this day had just become a reality.
The next 9.2 miles were spent off pace, limping it in, working like crazy trying to pull something together, and thinking hard about Kyle, his life, the many good times we had together, and more importantly who he left behind. Somehow the magnitude of my little problem became irrelevant. Today was about something greater and that was honoring my great friend, Kyle Steffan. In the end I made it, crossed the line and brought to a close one of the most rewarding things I have ever been a part of.
For all those that took part in the effort watch your mail. Very shortly you will be receiving materials to wrap up your end of the RFTT. I want to say thank you to everyone again and especially to long time friend KC Dunstan who helped put the RFTT website together.For me, it's back to drawing board. The Buckeye Trail 5oK is less than 60 days away and I still have one more chance to qualify for B-town (Columbus Marathon, October 18). Over the next 4 months I’ll be running hard and with each step be reciting the words of legendary basketball star Michael Jordan who said..."I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed”………mark my words, 3:10 will happen.
