Let’s Do This, Boston! or Am I Running?

Happy Marathon Monday! Even as this posts, I have no idea what I am going to do today. All I know is that my priority is ending the day healthy and safe. Marathons come and go, health and safety do not. So, I may defer, I may start and end up not finishing, or I may be totally surprised and slog my sweaty way to the finish. I don’t believe in the “at all costs” theory when it comes to hobbies and my health, and that’s that.

The Boston Marathon for me has never been about beating my last marathon time. In 2010 I ran a race 5 minutes slower than my last marathon, but I didn’t care and had more fun than ever. I will tell you that I can.not.wait. for it to be this evening. I have agonized all weekend long to the point where I thought I might pass out from trying to decide how to proceed.

I am lucky to be running for a charity that I personally believe in. It’s not as well-known as others, and the work The ALLY Foundation does is something a lot of people don’t want to think about.

Sadly, the fact is that many of us likely know someone who has been the victim of some form of sexual assault or abuse, only we just don’t know it. Today, I am running for all of them. Hopefully someday soon we will be able to be more open about healing for the people who have been hurt and working on stopping this type of violence from ruining the lives of many men, women, and children.

Heavy stuff, but you can guarantee that when I run through the wall of amazing women at Wellesley I will be thinking about it, and when times get tough, wherever that may be along the course, that’s where I will be digging from.

I don’t know what’s going to happen, but as I have been reminding myself more and more, I can’t control situations, but I can control my reaction to them. Here’s to today unfolding however it is meant to, and with me still standing at the end.

Be safe out there, everyone!