I Was Wrong

I was wrong. There is no other way to put it. I thought I was saying something deep when I wrote that the three scariest letters in the alphabet are DNF (did not finish). Then I went to a meeting last Thursday that showed me how naïve and simplistic I had been.

The similarities between the man I heard about with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and I are many. We are both 38 and fathers of large families. So it immediately hit a nerve. Than I heard what ALS does to a person. How it shuts down his body little by little ultimately ending in death. How his mind stays active, but he is unable to move and ultimately unable to speak. How children are unsure how to relate to a parent who hears there every word, but is unable to do anything else. After hearing all of that information I knew I had no choice to get involved.

Before last week’s Boston Marathon, the Boston Globe had a feature written by runners, on why they run . It was a really touching section. A number of people wrote “I Run for those who can’t”. I know from personal experience how much running is transformed when you run to help someone else. It seemed like no coincidence when the founders of JRunners told me that that they were using that phrase for their organization. By the time I walked out of the room, I knew that I would do anything I could to help them in their quest to put on a 200K Relay this summer. It’s true I am busy and already have a lot on my plate. Still I am hooked.

I hope that in some way, you will join me.