Running a marathon is among the toughest goals I've reached for in recent years. 26.2 miles is a very long distance to travel by foot. Occasionally I will track that distance in my car for perspective - New Haven to Weston, CT for example - and it seems like forever....in the car.
The legendary runner Bill Rodgers won both the NYC and prestigious Boston Marathons, four times each. This was his perspective - "The marathon can humble you."
I'm a late entry into this game. I attempted my very first marathon at the age of 56, in St. Croix, where the heat and humidity bake runners. I signed up for the half, felt good and figured that I'd give the full marathon a shot. I remember about 16 miles in, realizing that I was going to figure out a way to get this thing done. I crossed the finish line in 4:08 and I was hooked! No goal had felt more distant prior, which made it feel that much more rewarding to achieve it.
Most runners are winding down their running careers by age 56 but I was just getting started. I figured you never really know what you're capable of doing until you give it a shot. In the words of the great Michelangelo “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”
My obsession with the marathon has led me to run several over the past two years leading to my 10th in Miami yesterday. However this one didn't seem to be in the cards after a string of issues derailed my training. Early in January I got a high fever from pneumonia, got delirious, blacked out and fell which created a bloody hole in my head and sent me to the hospital ER to get treated. This all dropped my lung capacity and stopped my training for over two weeks. When I finally got back on the road I quickly suffered a bad ankle sprain and ligament damage a quarter mile into a 15k race that I continued to run through leading to a foot that I could barely walk on, let alone do a marathon with. The marathon was just a week away and I doubted that I would be in position to participate.Enter Dr. Andrew Rice, my podiatrist. Like me, he loves to run. He also recognizes that guys my age, also his age, don't have a lot of miles left in the tank. "Run while you still can" he's told me repeatedly. He connected my goal with my ankle condition and rushed me into a week of physical therapy which reduced the swelling and got me to the start line without pain. They don't come any better than Dr. Rice!
I started the race not knowing how far I could go. I had visions of dropping out after a few miles, or flipping over to the half-marathon finish line and calling it a day. I kept fearing that the ankle would swell at any moment or I would just run out of lung capacity and have to stop. But I pressed on. I ran slow, and had to stop and walk a few times due to my lung capacity, but I made it. The sight of that finish line at 4:14 was as beautiful a site as I've ever seen in a race.
While in Miami, I also met legendary marathon runner Bart Yasso. Bart is also around my age and he offered a quote that drove me through those 26.2 miles yesterday. "There will come a day when I can no longer run a marathon....but today is not that day."I must have repeated that phrase 20 times during the race. It got me to the finish line and I hope it gets me to a few more. Thanks, Dr. Rice. Thanks, Bart Yasso.
