It's a Family Affair

 This past week Pam and I went down to Florida to visit Pam’s 97-year-old dad.   Dick, a veteran, was also a runner up to the last decade when his knee put an end to his running.   Both my daughters ran their first road races with him when they were knee high to a grasshopper.   

While I never pushed my children to run, all of them ran in high school.    I don’t know if my running had any influence on their decision but it is something they all have carried on later in their lives and now are passing on to some of their children.    

I had hoped this year’s marathon Challenge was going to be done at the Boston Marathon but that just wasn’t to be.  The combination of a gift of leftover hardware in my body, surgery, sepsis, and an all-expenses paid trip to the ICU in the last few months made that near impossible.  Add in the impact to my Parkinson’s (illness turbo-charges symptoms) and a wife who was a voice of reason, throwing in the towel was discouraging but the right answer.

My family, who were universally behind my wife’s position, stepped up again this year to help me out.  We got together in Pennsylvania where my daughter’s families live and they joined me in an effort to complete 26.2 miles as a family.    My goal was to jog/walk half the marathon distance and have the other half completed by family.  As it turns out, altogether we covered almost 100 miles with three of my grandchildren (ages 7,13,13) doing a full 13 miles with me.  My father-in-law even contributed a mile remotely making it a 4-generation effort.    

With another year in the books, I want to thank everyone for all the support and kind words that helped me make my Help in the Nick of Time goal and Marathon Challenge possible.   The children and families it will help send their thanks as well.   Finally, a special thanks to all my family members for putting up with me through this year’s efforts.  Love you all.

Stay safe and God willing I’ll be back next year.