I'm going over some old stuff I wrote, and I came across this. It seems appropriate, since I'm back in training mode. Much like a marathon, this is loooooong, but hey, it's 26.2 and a lot happened, so fvcking deal. ;-)
Marathon Weekend, Part I
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
What can I say? I did it. Just three days ago I ran my first marathon, and I have to tell you, I ran it well. As anyone who reads my blathering knows, this has been a very long time in coming, and I have certainly poured a lot of emotion into telling you why I did this, and for whom, but now that it has come to pass, I find that I never really gave you the full picture. I'd try to do that now, but instead I'll just give you the play-by-play of the weekend and you can read back blogs if you're so inclinednot sure why you would be. Just keep in mind I'm just an amateur blogger at best, and words sometime fail me. Ah, to hell with that. Let me sum up and get to the race.
Where to start? Marcus has incurable blood plasma cancer. Marcus and I are not very close at all, but Marcus is my little brother, and I love him. After his diagnosis, despair was like my shadow because it seemed I could do very little to bridge the gap between us, much less find a way to reduce his suffering, and I felt completely powerless. Then again, after his diagnosis I realized, not for the first time, that I suffer from an embarrassment of riches when it comes to having people who love me. Cara, Jody, Adam, Kate, Pete, Ray, Laura, the 420 Crew, Meagen, coworkers, and so many others made it so I never really grieved in solitude. They gave me a safe place to get my head and heart together so that I could get to the business of taking care of my brother after the initial panic wore off.
It occurs to me now that the embarrassment was only getting started. My sister discovered this group called Team in Training, which organizes fundraisers on behalf of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by getting people involved in endurance sports. I checked it out and immediately signed up to raise $2800 dollars and, in return, receive coaching and support while preparing to run the 2008 Portland Marathon. My "team" consisted of mostly of do-gooders, but also included survivors and people like meknuckleheads just trying to do something, anything, to fight back against a disease that is killing someone we love and, at the same time, demonstrate that love in a way that might offer some hope and comfort. Keiku, Phil, Elizabeth, Jen, Robin, James, Stephan, Josie, Kelli B, Nadine, Jessica, Julia, Shannon, Matt, Greg, Raazi, Mark, Amanda, and all the repeat offenders named above were a constant source of encouragement and validation as I prepared for the race. I have to tell you, the last month has been a series of personal disasters and other challenges, but their love and presence never wavered, not even for a second. On to race weekend.
Friday is when it started. I worked only a few hours that morning, but most of that was spent responding to emails and phone calls from co-workers and clients wishing me well. One poignant conversation came with a support engineer whom I've worked with for over two years. He just heard about what I was doing, and why, and shared with me the story of his brother's losing battle with Leukemia. And then he thanked me, which struck me as odd, given that he was the one who just gave me a gift.
After tearing myself away from work stuff, I indulged in an hour of hot/tepid/freezing soaking, baking, and basting at Banya 5, followed by a rigorous massage from Lisa. She shared the story of a childhood friend who lost a battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at age 15. And she thanked me. I went home and took a nap.
That evening I met with the 420 crew. As always, it was good-natured fun and frothy, beer-soaked companionship. It was also Anthony's birthday. Welcome home, my friend, and Happy 39th! I'm right behind you! Side note: As far as I'm concerned, there is no such thing as a replacement for good ol' ugly-bumping, hip-grinding, loud-the-fuck-as-you-wanna-be sex, but Jenny's "crack cake" makes a pretty good attempt. Making happy hour all the sweeter were the personal wishes of good luck from pretty much every individual in the crew. Sweeter yet was sharing a little conversation and Sushi, sans-Saki I'm afraid, with Keiku. Some connections are complicated, but love really shouldn't be, and we share that much at the very least. I am grateful for every single moment of Friday.
Then came Saturday, and the trip to Portland. I drug my ass out of bed at 4:45, showered, finished packing, and hopped a taxi to the lovely and well-appointed King Street Station to catch a train. If you aren't familiar with this particular train depot, you wouldn't understand that I just used that lovely literary device called "sarcasm". King Street Station is a shit hole. Even the rats just stay outside. One looked at me when I was walking in and said "You're really going in there, you fucking idiot? Just leave that granola bar out hereyou're about to lose your appetite."
He was right.
I met up with my team in a dingy corner and spent the next 30 minutes pretending that I was meeting them all for the first time. People look much different in street clothes than they do in sweaty running gear, so this wasn't too hard to pull off. Before long, we were on the train, cruising through a misty morning along Puget Sound. Whereas the station was just nasty, the greens, grays, and blues of a Pacific Northwest autumn were primeval, and sublime. The trip took about 3-4 hours, but Robin, Diana, and Andrew provided constant entertainment and we arrived, laughing, in Portland in the blink of an eye. Union Station is actually rather nice.
The rest of the day was spent just chillin' and meeting other Team in Training participants from Spokane, Tacoma, Alaska, Montana, San Francisco, Tri Cities, Portland, etc. By the end of the day, in addtion to Marcus, I was running for little Isaac, Mary, Steve's Mom, Tom, Robin, little Katie, Nadine's dad, and a host of people whose names I cannot remember. I also received dozens of emails/texts/voicemails from all of you. We had a bit of a dinner banquet that consisted of just a bit too much of the "ra-ra-ra" for me, but given the context, it wasn't too bad.
Then I went to bed, and after being informed that All was Well, I went to sleep. I think my last thoughts were dwelling on how grateful I was. Then I woke up and it was time to run.
I'll tell you about that tomorrow.
-M
Marathon Weekend, Part I
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
What can I say? I did it. Just three days ago I ran my first marathon, and I have to tell you, I ran it well. As anyone who reads my blathering knows, this has been a very long time in coming, and I have certainly poured a lot of emotion into telling you why I did this, and for whom, but now that it has come to pass, I find that I never really gave you the full picture. I'd try to do that now, but instead I'll just give you the play-by-play of the weekend and you can read back blogs if you're so inclinednot sure why you would be. Just keep in mind I'm just an amateur blogger at best, and words sometime fail me. Ah, to hell with that. Let me sum up and get to the race.
Where to start? Marcus has incurable blood plasma cancer. Marcus and I are not very close at all, but Marcus is my little brother, and I love him. After his diagnosis, despair was like my shadow because it seemed I could do very little to bridge the gap between us, much less find a way to reduce his suffering, and I felt completely powerless. Then again, after his diagnosis I realized, not for the first time, that I suffer from an embarrassment of riches when it comes to having people who love me. Cara, Jody, Adam, Kate, Pete, Ray, Laura, the 420 Crew, Meagen, coworkers, and so many others made it so I never really grieved in solitude. They gave me a safe place to get my head and heart together so that I could get to the business of taking care of my brother after the initial panic wore off.
It occurs to me now that the embarrassment was only getting started. My sister discovered this group called Team in Training, which organizes fundraisers on behalf of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by getting people involved in endurance sports. I checked it out and immediately signed up to raise $2800 dollars and, in return, receive coaching and support while preparing to run the 2008 Portland Marathon. My "team" consisted of mostly of do-gooders, but also included survivors and people like meknuckleheads just trying to do something, anything, to fight back against a disease that is killing someone we love and, at the same time, demonstrate that love in a way that might offer some hope and comfort. Keiku, Phil, Elizabeth, Jen, Robin, James, Stephan, Josie, Kelli B, Nadine, Jessica, Julia, Shannon, Matt, Greg, Raazi, Mark, Amanda, and all the repeat offenders named above were a constant source of encouragement and validation as I prepared for the race. I have to tell you, the last month has been a series of personal disasters and other challenges, but their love and presence never wavered, not even for a second. On to race weekend.
Friday is when it started. I worked only a few hours that morning, but most of that was spent responding to emails and phone calls from co-workers and clients wishing me well. One poignant conversation came with a support engineer whom I've worked with for over two years. He just heard about what I was doing, and why, and shared with me the story of his brother's losing battle with Leukemia. And then he thanked me, which struck me as odd, given that he was the one who just gave me a gift.
After tearing myself away from work stuff, I indulged in an hour of hot/tepid/freezing soaking, baking, and basting at Banya 5, followed by a rigorous massage from Lisa. She shared the story of a childhood friend who lost a battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at age 15. And she thanked me. I went home and took a nap.
That evening I met with the 420 crew. As always, it was good-natured fun and frothy, beer-soaked companionship. It was also Anthony's birthday. Welcome home, my friend, and Happy 39th! I'm right behind you! Side note: As far as I'm concerned, there is no such thing as a replacement for good ol' ugly-bumping, hip-grinding, loud-the-fuck-as-you-wanna-be sex, but Jenny's "crack cake" makes a pretty good attempt. Making happy hour all the sweeter were the personal wishes of good luck from pretty much every individual in the crew. Sweeter yet was sharing a little conversation and Sushi, sans-Saki I'm afraid, with Keiku. Some connections are complicated, but love really shouldn't be, and we share that much at the very least. I am grateful for every single moment of Friday.
Then came Saturday, and the trip to Portland. I drug my ass out of bed at 4:45, showered, finished packing, and hopped a taxi to the lovely and well-appointed King Street Station to catch a train. If you aren't familiar with this particular train depot, you wouldn't understand that I just used that lovely literary device called "sarcasm". King Street Station is a shit hole. Even the rats just stay outside. One looked at me when I was walking in and said "You're really going in there, you fucking idiot? Just leave that granola bar out hereyou're about to lose your appetite."
He was right.
I met up with my team in a dingy corner and spent the next 30 minutes pretending that I was meeting them all for the first time. People look much different in street clothes than they do in sweaty running gear, so this wasn't too hard to pull off. Before long, we were on the train, cruising through a misty morning along Puget Sound. Whereas the station was just nasty, the greens, grays, and blues of a Pacific Northwest autumn were primeval, and sublime. The trip took about 3-4 hours, but Robin, Diana, and Andrew provided constant entertainment and we arrived, laughing, in Portland in the blink of an eye. Union Station is actually rather nice.
The rest of the day was spent just chillin' and meeting other Team in Training participants from Spokane, Tacoma, Alaska, Montana, San Francisco, Tri Cities, Portland, etc. By the end of the day, in addtion to Marcus, I was running for little Isaac, Mary, Steve's Mom, Tom, Robin, little Katie, Nadine's dad, and a host of people whose names I cannot remember. I also received dozens of emails/texts/voicemails from all of you. We had a bit of a dinner banquet that consisted of just a bit too much of the "ra-ra-ra" for me, but given the context, it wasn't too bad.
Then I went to bed, and after being informed that All was Well, I went to sleep. I think my last thoughts were dwelling on how grateful I was. Then I woke up and it was time to run.
I'll tell you about that tomorrow.
-M
clio:
i'm sorry for your loss. it's the least i can do to help out with such a good cause. i support Fractal 100%.
raging_donut:
Thanks, Clio. At the moment, my brother is doing okay. Fingers are crossed!