Denver Half Marathon, Denver, Colorado, October 18, 2009

Race Number 31 (Race #2 in the “Run to Raise Riches” program)

For this blog entry, I thought I would just include the letter I wrote to my parents who pledged their support in our “Run to Raise Riches for Jefferson Academy” program. We have raised over $3,150 for our classrooms in just two races through this program.

My Dear October Donors to Running to Raise Riches,

Preparation is so important in everything we do. Teachers understand that as well as anyone. Go into the classroom unprepared, and within minutes, your students will have it figured out and you can plan to have a difficult day.

Running a half marathon is not much different. As most of you know, I had been battling the pain and anguish of an abscessed wisdom tooth for the last 4-5 weeks. I “happily” ran with this ailing tooth at the Boulder Back Roads Marathon with the aid of medication (ok, happy pills). It continued to plague me and it got to the point of crippling my training and me. It is amazing to me that a spot no larger than the tip of your finger can bring you to your knees and disrupt almost every aspect of your life. I had that annoying tooth removed on October 1st. Recovery has been interesting. Add to that, four days at Outdoor Education Lab with our wonderful (and I mean that) sixth graders and you can probably guess that I was not prepared for this race through the streets of Denver (I literally ran only five times in the last four weeks).

Yet, nothing started, nothing experienced, and certainly, nothing finished. Starting lines are one of the most important stations in our lives. We need not avoid them (although I wanted to avoid this one today). We need to seek them out. So…. I ventured to the start line and started the process of pain, anguish and blessing.

Moreover, my saga through the streets of Denver had the same story line as most stories do. Things are good, then something awful happens, then a great battle must be fought. Then, at just the right moment (or at the last moment,) a hero comes and sets things right and life is peachy keen again. Well, that occurred in classic form today. Steinbeck would have been inspired. Each of those tenets was played out in the following way:

“Things are good”……It was a brisk morning….perfect for a long race.

“Something awful happens”….to even think that providence might clear its throat and cause me to enjoy a fine race without appropriate training was probably too much to ask. As sure as shoot’ in, by mile five, not even at the half way point of the race, my legs started to throb. Such a development could only be compared to the Last Days of Pompeii. I was beginning to feel doomed!

“A great battle is fought”…..The battle was between the pavement and me. I felt like the pavement was pounding me vs. me pounding the pavement. Yet, my relaxed attitude started to engender triumphant feelings! I continued to battle and was beginning to win that battle with minimal whimpering.

“A hero comes and sets things right”….. All right, here comes the vain part. Somewhere between miles nine and eleven, as I was really beginning to struggle, I looked to the right and I realized I could see myself in the big picture windows of some of the businesses along that portion of the route. To my surprise, I looked like a runner. Not a very good runner, but a runner nonetheless. I had decent posture, my stride was not bad, and my foot strike looked good. My hands and arms were about where they should be. Like a real runner! I got excited and felt inspired, albeit, by myself! Ok, now you can gag and throw up!

“Things are peachy keen”…..Only because I finished the race without waking up in the morgue (is that possible?) and ended up at a good restaurant on Broadway ordering French toast and peppered bacon. Yum!

So…. I finished, and I was inspired by each of you! I sincerely thank you for pledging to this race. We rose over $1,400 for our classrooms, which brings our total for the first two races to over $3,150!!!! Cool, huh!!!

With buckets of thankfulness and sweat, (signed) Mikie Marathoner

Time: 2:24:42. Slow but respectable considering my lack of training. Next race is at sea level!!!

Prayer List: Miles 1-3: Cindy Happs (one of our 1st grade aides) and family: They are mourning the loss of Cindy’s father. Miles 4-6: Gayle Brodie’s (our P.E. teacher) sister is recovering from a heart attack. Miles 7-9: The students at JA: They are valiantly fighting off the flu. Miles 10-13: Evalyn Schamaun, mother of our playground supervisor. She is dealing with dementia.