Eleven is 11 in My Book

As I sit here today moving at the pace of a turtle, I get a chance to reflect on the yesterday’s LA Marathon. It easy for me to talk about disappointment and discontent for my finishing time but yesterday morning about an hour about a half from the race start yesterday, I was sitting in the halls of dodger stadium just resting and trying to calm my mind and my nerves and not wanting to be bothered when an older guy sat down next to me with a cup of coffee and a donut. I thought maybe he was there to cheer someone on. He had on the basic of all running shorts, regular t shirt and a hat but I noticed his bib said Legacy Runner. He was one of the 100 or so men and women who have completed all 29 marathons since its inception which a feat that I have been marveled with since learning this group existed.

The legacy runner asked me how many races I had done and when I told him this would be 11th in a row, he remarked how cool it was. As I worried about finish time and running a certain pace, I realize how much this race was about something entirely different. The legacy runner was telling me that a few weeks back he’d fallen and hurt his knee and that he really had not recovered so he was a bit worried about the race but that he would crawl to the finish line if he had to. His goal, was to just finish in a predicted 8 hours because he would be forced to walk at this stage of his life but it was the dedication and the resolve that he represents that reminded me why I am out there and what matters most and that is to enjoy each mile like it is your last because in some senses, you never know what tomorrow brings.

Yesterday’s race was amazing in the first half. We had low temperatures and some cloud cover. Things were turning out better than I’d imagined but I was starting to feel a little fatigued already at mile 9 which let me know this would be a dogfight but I was prepared. When we got to mile 12, it seemed like the earth turned and the sun then blasted through and blast it did. I felt like I was running on the sun and my pace slowed minute by minute. By mile 17, I was spent and I began to walk a bit here and there and when we hit mile 18, I knew the finish was near but still far from it. At that point, I just enjoyed in the fact that I had the opportunity to finish another marathon and how blessed I am to be in this position. The clock reads out what time you finish but none of that matters. What matters most of knowing you left it all out there and you did not give up. I hope and wish the legacy runner I met finished well and I hope one day I will be able to attach the word legacy to my name in some capacity.


Learn to crawl first before you run!!