Week 18: Arriving and Remembering

It is here. We have arrived. Tomorrow at this time I will be moving with my Dana Farber Marathon Teammates towards Corral 6 in wave three (10:40am) as we prepare to begin our long awaited trek from Hopkinton to Boston. Throughout this journey I have thought a lot about the passage of time and have written about it on several occasions. Sometimes it has been the “hurry up and wait” experience of time. Other times it has been the “are we ever going to get there” experience with time. Sometimes it is the “I want this to last forever” experience.  Today, it is “I cannot believe we are here.” I am always taken with the paradox of an arrival. It in many ways is both an end and a beginning. We have many logged miles behind us and our training is complete, yet we have a 26.2 mile journey remaining. We are ready. We are strong. Today we remember why we run.

 Fundraising Update

As I have done every week, I will start with a fundraising update. Once again, you have helped me shatter every goal we have set together. This past week we crossed the $15,000 raised. As of today we have $15,285 and I still have checks to send in. WOW!!! I am in awe of the generosity of so many family, friends, co-workers and supporters. It is a clear reminder to me of the power of community when everyone chips in what they can for a better world. Our efforts are directly supporting Dana Farber’s Ultimate Goal- A world without cancer. Over the past 18 weeks I have learned from many of you how cancer has touched your lives and for many of you, Dana Farber played a critical role. Please accept my deepest gratitude for your support and for sharing your stories with me. It really has helped keep me going. Our efforts are making a difference!

Remembering

As I pack my bags and get my gear all together, I cannot stop and think of how this journey started and the reason I am running. Two years ago tomorrow, my dear friend Matt, lost his beautiful nephew to Ewing’s Sarcoma. The strength and courage of Josh as he faced this horrible disease and the strength, courage and commitment of my friend Matt and his sister and their entire family will forever be an example for me of enduring love. While I have run many miles in the last 4 months in honor of Josh’s memory, this pales in comparison to the journey Josh and his family faced. I cannot even imagine what that was like or what it is like to continue to live with his loss. So today while many are worrying about the heat predicted for tomorrow or the 26.2 miles that await us, I am simply honoring the memory of a very special boy named Josh, his family and my friend Matt, whom I love so completely. I will draw strength from their courage, and continued strength as they live each day remembering and honoring Josh.

In thinking about how this journey started, I actually found the email that I sent to my friend Matt and I thought I would share it because it certainly evidences the passage of time as well as the power of deciding to do something and how in time, it is possible to arrive. I wrote this email to Matt the day after watching the Boston Marathon last year on heartbreak hill.

April 19, 2011

Hello, Matt.

I am sorry I missed your call yesterday. I was in at the Boston Marathon. It was so exciting. My cousin ran and finished which was great! I have an idea that I want to run by you and see what you think. I was so inspired by all the runners yesterday and I kept thinking to myself that I want to do this race again and then kept finding reasons why I did not think I can. Then I saw all the people running by running in memory of someone for either Dana Farber or Childrens Hospital. I kept finding myself thinking of Josh and his battle and how strong he was and how strong you were to be right there with him. Of course I was on Heartbreak hill which truly tests one’s endurance. Perhaps this is why you and Josh were with me all day as I stood on the hill.  It was so inspiring. Anyway, I found myself thinking that I would like to run in honor of Josh and in honor of your commitment to him-sticking by his side when it was so tough. You endured many heartbreak hills. When I got home I started looking and actually inquired for information from Dana Farber and then realized that next year, the Marathon falls on April 16^th and I thought if this was something that you and your sister were ok with, I would really like to see if I can get accepted to run next year on the Dana Farber team in Josh’s honor. Clearly you guys would need to be ok with this and I would also need to apply and get accepted. I would also have a lot of training to get me to that level, but it is something that I think I can do if I work hard enough and stay the course. You would be my inspiration because you have such endurance!!

Love you,

Kerry

So here we are… it is April 15, 2012 and I will be running the Boston Marathon in memory of Joshua Navez Mejia.  Matt and his sister were ok with me running in Josh’s honor. As I hoped, I was selected to run as a member of the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge Team. I trained hard over the course of the last 18 weeks and am ready to run 26.2 miles in whatever the weather brings and more importantly we have raised over $15,000 to support cancer research and Dana Farber’s ultimate goal- A world without cancer. My run and all the money raised will not bring Josh back. However, my hope is to simply honor his journey, his strength and his memory. So when I lace up my sneakers tomorrow and face the heat, the hills, and the 26.2 miles that separates Hopkinton from Boston, I will be thinking about Josh, his mom, his family and especially my dear friend Matt! I honor all of you more than you could ever know. I also will be thinking of the many people who have shared their stories with me. Cancer is a horrible disease and so many of you faced it and continue to face it with such courage. It will be the collective courage and strength of all of you and the support I have received from so many loved ones that will be pulling me with gravitational forces towards the finish! Thank you for sharing this journey with me!

With Gratitude,

Kerry D

Race Information:

If anyone is interested in tracking me during the race my bib number is 23121. My start time is 10:40am.You can receive text messages by texting the word RUNNER to 345678. This will then send you text alerts when I pass the 10K (6.2 miles), 13.1 miles, 30K (18.6 miles) and Finish line 26.2 miles. You can also see updates on the Boston Athletic Association Website by entering my bib number. They will provide updates every 5K (3.1 mile).