Introduction

New Year’s Day

It is strange how words can be absolutely true and absolutely false at the same time.  It was just past six in the morning on New Year’s Day 2007 when my family and I pulled into Kingwood, Texas and my wife Yvette once again uttered the words, “you know you don’t have to do this.”  And this was not the first time she had gently whispered these words to me on what had already become an extremely long New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Morning.

And she was right.  Just the fact that I had even initially planned to run a marathon at 8:00 AM on New Year’s Day was crazy enough.  Add to it the fact that due to circumstances beyond my control (job-related factors, not party-related), I had gotten exactly zero hours sleep – what I was doing seemed even crazier.  I had run a marathon in each of the past four months.  I was already somewhat spent even before I pulled this “all-nighter”.  Everyone would have understood if I would of simply said “there will be another race on another day” and turned around and went home to get some sleep.  Her words were absolutely true – I did not HAVE to do this.   But at the same time, she was completely wrong – there was no chance at all that I was going to turn around and go home even though I must admit the idea did sound appealing.

 There are many reasons why Yvette’s early morning words were so true, and most (if not all) can be traced to the idea of being “logical”.  But logic does not always win the battle.  The explanation of why her words were at the same time absolutely false is a bit more complicated, and some would say not as “sane”.   The watered down reason is simply this - long ago, I had forgotten how to give up.   I simply no longer knew how to “throw in the towel” anymore. 

A little less than 4 hours after Yvette had uttered her soothing words to me, I had put yet another notch in my belt.  I had accomplished something before noon on the very first day of the year that less than one percent of the population will accomplish in a lifetime – running 26.2 miles nonstop.   And to boot, at this point I had now done it five months in a row en route to eventually accomplishing the “26.2 mile trick” ten months in a row.

The obvious question is “why”.  Why do I put myself through the torture known as a marathon time and time again?    There are no easy answers to this question, and the answer is not always the same.  Bottom line, I am a runner and my reason for running has changed numerous times over the span of time.   Most think I am crazy or just plain stupid.   And if somehow I could have looked into the future only a few years back, I too would of have thought I was crazy.   There is absolutely no way that I could have predicted that running would save my life, would finally give me a purpose for being on God’s green earth – but I am so thankful it did.   

And if never, ever giving up on yourself and believing that God will always give you a way to overcome any obstacle makes a person crazy - then you better get my size for a straight jacket, because I am the craziest person around!!    Now, here is my story…..