Well I made 13.1 miles yesterday.  It wasn’t too bad either.  It rained the entire time, to the point my clothes and shoes were beyond soaking.  In a way it was nice as it was cool, but the wet clothes weighed me down a bit.  In the end, I ran at an 8:37 pace which was the same time as last week’s 12 miles but still 40 seconds slower than my half marathon.

I couldn’t stop thinking as I ran yesterday about the Boston Marathon which happens today.  It is neat to read people’s stories about going and running and how it feels for the first, fifth or fifteenth time.  For me, it would be a time full of excitement and emotions.  I have been thinking why I am working so hard to try to qualify for Boston.  At my age I would have to finish a qualifying marathon at 3:30 minimum.  When I run my long runs or workouts or just easy runs, I think about my goal.  It isn’t just that it is Boston, it is the fact that I would be able to go from not being able to run a quarter mile to running in the oldest marathon in America.  It is the journey.  It is, as much of my life has been, going from nowhere to somewhere.

I don’t have anything to prove.  I simply have set a goal and now am working meticulously to achieve that goal.  Each run I go on, each article I read, every trial, every error, every blog or Twitter post is me working to an end.  I want to be able to say that I went, by the grace of God, from obesity to qualifying to running the Boston Marathon.  If I can do that, anyone can.

Much of my life I have felt as if I am behind and trying to catch up.  I think that is a good thing.  I don’t want to live a normal life. I want to be an unexceptional person doing exceptional things.  I want to inspire others to do the same.  Wether at home, work, Church, or where ever I am, I want people to know that what brings out exceptionalism in them isn’t the talent that they were born with.  It is the talent that they developed with perseverance, determination and endurance.

Here is to the Boston Marathon!  Here is to the 27,000 runners.  Hopefully I’ll join you one year.  If I do, I’ll post about it on my blog the next day, you can be sure of that. 🙂