Despite the number of times friends and colleagues see me out running in the harsh Granite State winter, the following conversation comes up every year,
?So are you running the Boston Marathon this year??
?Yup?
?Again??
?I do it every year?
?Why??
It?s tough to give a real answer to ?why?, especially to the non-runner.
It?s a question that during those cold, snowy, slushy runs I even ask myself.
(running)
Yet it never seems like a bad idea when training begins in December.
Olympic marathon champion Frank Shorter once said "You have to forget your last marathon before you try another."
I've found that to be true.
To train for the Boston marathon in April means running through New England?s most unforgiving weather.
It means leaving the comforts of a warm bed for sub-zero temperatures.
It means giving up precious free time with family and friends to run on monotonous treadmills or icey pavement.
All this to PAY one hundred dollars to do it with 20 thousand others on the streets of Boston.
(running mixed to sounds of watching marathon footage at party?
I got together with some of my running comrades last weekend to enjoy some carbo-loading pizza and the inspirations of old Boston marathon videos.
(sound up???)
These are men and women that I?ve spent countless hours running with.
We pass mile after mile talking about our jobs, our families and things only a runner would be interested in?. from chafing lubricants to our philosophies around liquid foods.
But last weekend I asked them a question that almost never comes up.
Why?.
JARAD It?s the longest distance?MAUREEN It?s a life long dream I?ve wanted to do since high school JOHN health, fitness, accomplishment MAUREEN mental health (all agree) DOROTHY it?s in our hearts because we?ve seen it for years and years JIM it?s home DOROTHY It?s home, but people from other places come because it is the elite race which it is to us but not in the same way. And then their?s always the prize money? all laugh) :28
(more sounds of party and us watching the marathon)
Kidding aside, only a very small handful of runners line up for the Boston Marathon with hopes of winning prize money.
Most do it to win something else.
The Boston marathon is the Holy Grail (I'm not sure that's the right term. How about The Boston Marathon is the Superbowl, it's the Wimbleton, it's the World Series?) for many of us who run long distance?
It's the worlds oldest and most prestigious modern marathon.
It's the only one that requires its runners qualify in an earlier marathon.
Its heroes and legends are almost godlike to us;
There was the contemptuous seven time winner Clarence Demar.
He allegedly punched a man in mid stride who tried to shake his hand.
There was Johnny ?the elder? Kelly who died earlier this year.
Kelly started an unprecedented 61 Boston marathons.
No other person has come close.
And then there's the modern mainstays like Dick and Rick Hoyt, a father and son team. who will be competing in their 24th race this year.
Rick is wheelchair bound.
Dick, his father, pushes him. \
They finish together, but Rick brags he ? always beats his father by a few feet.
To be a small part in a race so rich in history, tradition and respect could be the answer to that question ?why??.
But to many runners it?s something that we just don?t generally verbalize.
(JIM maybe we don?t talk about it because if we stopped and thought about it we might say why are we doing this and we wouldn?t do it?KEITH that?s a good point (laugh) ( Cross to running) :15
Maybe it?s more personal.
On Monday Twenty thousand runners will line up in the tiny hamlet of Hopkinton, Massachusetts to run the 109th Boston Marathon.
And quite possibly, if you asked each one of them why they run, you might get 20-thousand different answers.
I?ve known friends who have run to get over the pain of lost relationships or jobs.
Others have used it to battle addictions.
Others to get inspired.
But I think for me, I think my former running club president Jim said it best that evening over pizza.
JIME The first time I ran it I remember going up to work the next day and somebody said geez, so you can do anything if you can do that and I had never thought of that. And every now and then that comes back to me if something else in life is hard it?s like well I?ve done the marathon so you knowI maybe if I work hard at this I could get this done? :16
(more running)
The Boston marathon experience is like no other I've had.
For twenty six point two miles runners and spectators cheer you you like a rock-star.
The exhilaration of making the last turn onto Boylston street cannot be manufactured.
And that never gets old.
It makes every ache and pain, every long cold snowy run worth it.
But for me the most important part of running, and running the marathon, is not the medals and the bragging rights.
It's the life lessons I've learned.
Lessons like ?hard work pays off?, ?No pain, no gain? and ?one step at a time?.
Running has taught me patience, it?s taught me the thrill of being in the moment and that the best things in life don?t come quickly.
As, I stand in my coral (I don't know what that is) and try to shake off the butterflies this Monday I?ll most likely reflect on that question ?why?.
And if it hasn?t been completely answered by the time the gun goes off, 26 miles later it probably will be.
