Miles I have run since 12/23/11 1 taken from My Daily Mile
Christmas Eve Run
On Christmas Eve I needed to run long and there wasn’t an organized Dana Farber Team run. Well, there was an unofficial run that one of my teammates was organizing, but this was an hour away and I was not sure if there would be anyone running at my pace. I decided not to drive an hour because there was great possibility that I would only end up running alone. I was very fortunate that a good friend was willing to run with me (Thanks, Devo). It was a bit chilly and I was very grateful that Devonna was willing to go out and run 12 miles with me. Especially because she is not training for anything in particular and certainly did not need to run 12 miles in the cold. I was very appreciative of her. I thanked her many times on the run because long solo runs can be very challenging and to have a friend to run with is truly a blessing. We did joke several times because neither of us says too much when we run. For me, there are times that I actually enjoy the solitude, but most often I just like the company of someone else, even if it is a shared solitude.
Here is a picture of Devo and me after we finished our run. It was such a great feeling to be done and to look forward to time with family and friends.
 |
| December 24, 2011 |
The Arlington Street Church, Boston Massachusetts
After the long run and a hot bath, I was ready to enjoy Christmas Eve with family and friends. This is now my third year going into a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at the Arlington Street Church in Boston. It has become a very special tradition and there is a group of about 10 of us who meet at the Park Plaza Hotel and then head over to the service. For anyone who has attended this service, you probably know what I mean when I say it is simply magical. It is like going to the well. Each year I have attended, I leave feeling grounded, connected and empowered. Kim Crawford, who is the minister, has the ability to deliver an incredibly powerful sermon that embraces the complexities and chaos of the world in which we live with clarity and compassion and through the stories she shares, she reminds us of the power we have in our own lives to make a difference. This year’s sermon was entitled “Glory” and she so powerfully expressed how we can experience both glory and “awe” in our every day lives. I think this is what I love so much about Kim Crawford and her sermons. She is real. She believes that spirituality exists in our everyday lives and through our interactions with others.
This year I have accepted the fact that it is unlikely that I will drive to Boston to attend services. However, I am very pleased to share that her sermons are available online from the Arlington Street Church website so I will be listening to her powerful words more often. On the agenda for the next few weeks will be to listen to “Taking the Road Not Taken.” Of course I was drawn to this because of my love of Robert Frost. I will also be listening to “First Things First” because of my love of Steven Covey and many others who share the “first things first” philosophy. The others I will be listening to are “Wonder,” “Do it now,” “Abundance in Scarcity,” and “Look.”
You might be asking how is all this relevant to running the Boston Marathon and raising money for Dana Farber. Well, quite simply I do not believe that running is only a physical journey and one in which I build mental toughness, to me running is also a spiritual journey and this has been magnified as I have linked my running to such an important effort-finding a cure for cancer.
The Power of Personal Stories
Over the past few weeks and in particular during the holidays, I think what has impacted me the most is the many stories that so many of you have shared about loved ones who have battled with cancer and how this has impacted your families. I am also surprised how many people I know have been treated at Dana Farber and I did not know. One of the most powerful messages I received shortly after the holidays was from someone whom I respect greatly. I had sent this person my fundraising letter and this is the response I received (I have changed it a bit for the privacy of the person).
Hi Kerry,
I just wanted to share a couple of thoughts with you. I would be honored to donate to your Marathon Challenge. As you already know, I am a very familiar with and am a huge supporter of the Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute. When my child was diagnosed, the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber were world class cancer institutions, but in spite of having the best care and treatment, there was no cure.
I would always smile when people would tell me that they would pray for him and my family, because it is not the prayers that help. The real source of any advancements and cures will come from research and money. So you are a true hero, putting all you efforts and strength into such a worthy cause. No child should leave us too soon. So that being said…………………
Come April, you will strap on your running shoes and take to the road. May your legs stay strong, your feet glide across the pavement and the wind be at your back. And mothers and fathers like me will always know the real sources of any research starts with great folks like you.
Anonymous
Action as Prayer
This is exactly what I mean about running with Dana Farber becoming a spiritual journey for me. I am not someone that goes to church often. In fact, like many I struggle greatly with organized religion. This is not because I lack spiritual strength; in fact I would argue it is my spiritual strength that initiates and perpetuates the struggle. As I read this email, I found myself imagining what would it be like if instead of simply saying that we are praying for someone (which I do often) that we actually purposely did something aimed at helping the challenge someone was facing.
This seemed so consistent with the message of Kim Crawford’s sermon. I found myself thinking that alone I cannot individually find a cure for cancer. I also cannot bring back the many loved ones who have left so many of us to soon. However, I can do my part and what I can. As I read and reread this email, I realized that we all need to do a lot more when we can. I was reminded of Oprah Winfrey’s last show where she told us that we must all know and accept our sphere of influence and to know our own stage and use it. We may not all be talk show hosts with a large audience, but we all have our own stages and spheres of influence. I was also reminded of the visual of the candlelight service when the Arlington Street Church is completely dark. Then with the light of one candle the light is past. Very soon with the light of many candles the church is completely bright. In my thoughts this all seemed to come together. My running was a very physical act of prayer. I was not just praying for something to get better, I was making action (running and fundraising) my prayer. My light (running and fundraising) was not alone. It was accompanied by the efforts of all my Dana Farber Teammates. Collectively, we make one powerful force and this collective force is fueled by our many supporters.
So as I got through week three of training, this email fueled my runs. I actually found myself saying the words in the email over in my head as I ran. Then when it came to my long run on New Year’s Eve morning, I found the email message even more powerful than it had been during the week. My long run this week was going to be 14 miles. The route that I mapped out was actually 15 miles. I was going to be running alone. It was cold and I needed to run in the morning and it was also raining. I got up, had my coffee and breakfast at about 6am. I was going to run at 9am but needed to get hydrated and fueled up. My mom thought I was crazy. It was raining out and my run would have me out there for over 2 hours. While I certainly had the option of going to the gym and logging the miles on the treadmill, this did not seem like an option. I pulled up the email on my cell phone and read it to my mom. It was then that my eyes filled up with tears and I said, “I have to run because I am not just running for me.”
Off I went, in the cold and the rain. If anyone knows me, I really do not deal well with the cold. The route I ran was hilly. I had dressed appropriately, although the damp cold and at times freezing rain really made it difficult. As I approached each hill, I imagined the many people who have shared with me their experiences with cancer and I would say, “This is for Josh, or for my friend Matt (Josh’s uncle) or for ____________ (the many names of your loved ones that you have shared).” As I ran, I felt so aware of the great absence that many of you experience in your daily lives and even more during this holiday season. The hills I faced paled in comparison the the mountain of grief you face each day. With this in mind, I did not have any trouble getting up the hills that day and when I felt doubt creeping in, I would ask myself “how much are you willing to do to find a cure for cancer,” I would take a deep breath and keep running one stride at a time.
I do believe in the power of prayer. Not in the sense that prayer makes our challenges disappear, but in the sense that through prayer we can find strength to face what seems impossible. For me prayer is a conversation. It is a relationship. It is something I do when I run and now I also think of it as something I am doing when I am fundraising. It is a purposeful act to do what I can so someday families will not have to have a loved one leave us too soon. Thank you for all your inspiration and for helping me in this effort. We can dream a world without cancer but it does take more than prayer, it takes action. What are you willing to do for a world without cancer?
With gratitude,
Kerry D
No comments:
Post a Comment