Go Jim Go

Jim is currently averaging a 7:57 mile pace and is somewhere just past the halfway mark in the Boston marathon. If you want to track him yourself:

http://www.baa.org/ Bib number 21742

I ran my one and only marathon in 1999. Just enough time has passed to make me think that I would like to do another one but not so much time has passed to make me forget just how much race Jim has ahead of him. Halfway in a marathon is really not very far. Mentally its pretty grueling to know that you have 13.1 more miles ahead of you. In fact with each passing mile your mind can become more of an issue than your body. I am quite sure my mind would have successfully mutinied and had me quit my marathon had it not been for Wakie . . . topically relevant b/c she's Jim's wife.

Wakie met me at mile 17 of the Marine Corp Marathon and when she found me I was just barely shuffling by. I had already been out paced by a guy NOT wearing shoes and another guy dressed head to toe as Big Bird. Not a good things for one's self esteem especially when facing 9.2 more miles. Had it not been for a very energetic Wakie ready and waiting to escort me around Haines Point I am pretty sure I would have slowed to a walk and then to a sit and in fact I would probably still be sitting on the curb next to those crazies who fish out of the Potomac. But Wakie was there and she herded me past a few water stops, the lone DJ at the tip of Haines Point, and across the 13th Street Bridge, which imports tsunami winds from the south pacific just for race day.

From there we found Tori and the two of them guided me the final 3 miles of the race, which included a few few glimpses of Hammer, McSiracusa, and Jeanine as they peered on tip toes over the crowd. It was hard, I was rendered mute with exhuastion (which if you know me, is saying A LOT), and I couldn't really feel my lower body. But it was one of the best things I ever did. Partly if not entirely b/c of the people I did it with. I can't say I would recommend going out and running a marathon but I do recommend doing something that pushes yourself to the point of needing your friends to help you out. Just ask Squishy and Angie. . . or the Beatles. It is a pretty awesome thing.

Ok, so enough about my marathon and back to Jim's. The whole impetus for this post is that Jim is out there enduring 26.2 miles to raise money and awareness for Homes for Our Troops. He's gotten a lot of support from his friends and it is a pretty awesome thing.

Jim will be hitting mile 19 soon and that's the place most runner's hit their wall. If you get chance, send him a mental "come on Jim, you can do it." Whatever you do, don't send him a mental "come on Jim, you're almost there" NEVER tell a marathoner that they're "almost there" until the finish line is in sight. When you've run 25.2 miles, even one more mile is not almost there.

Good Luck Jim!!

In case you were wondering, the Boston Marathon is run on the same day every year, the 3rd Monday in April - known to those in Massachusetts, Maine, and Wisconsin (???) as Patriot's Day. This is the day they celebrate 'the shot heard round the world'. The Red Sox always have a home game on this day and they schedule it so that the game is ending as the marathon runners are passing through Boston. If you live in MA, ME, or WI and are a school kid, you get today off - so go cheer for Jim.