Boston Marathon Registration:) Standing at the Gate.

Well.  That was easy.

After a decade of chasing the starting line of the Boston Marathon, including previous qualification and subsequent injury, I was finally able to give the organizers of the World's Greatest Footrace, my $130... how good it feels.

After the ordeal to qualify, full of glimpses and shadows, as if I were running up the proverbial mountain, the registration itself was no different than signing a trail register at a National Forest Boundary.



Post-Hell.  Grandfather Mtn Marathon 2009



But- this seemingly inert moment, was brought here by a decade of steps and breaths, a lifetime of moments. Triumph and despair, apathy and emotion combine to temper the runner's soul as we make our way to the next beacon and realize this is simply a gateway to the next goal.  Now- it is time to train.  Time to sink in to the mindset of soreness and step away from the softness of impulse and immediate satisfaction.



The motto since the Disney Marathon in January, when I ran my BQ and PR, has been "one more?... what the hell!!" and this will now need to be reversed! The vacation is over and I now have the opportunity to forge the mettle required to perform my best!  I will need to expose myself to risk, to live in vulnerability, to change habits and find the Moment. 

Morning running WILL be a part of this change, as an addition awaits his joining our family.  Time will be stretched and no more will procrastination running be allowable- there won't be the time! 

I look forward to this process, I look forward to the difficulties, the triumphs and associated emotions.  I look forward to all of the things seemingly opposed to comfort we are suppose to search out.  I envision the passage of 6 months of time.

These changes will occur invisibly, leading up to my eyes taking in the standing in a corral in Hopkinton in April.  As I see myself in this place I have watched so many others stand on television, it will be right and I will be thankful for the journey. 

I will also be reminding myself... don't get carried away:)  Like so much else, the 'easy' downhills are tricky (a potential trap) and they can make the uphills that follow seem insurmountable at times. 

So, tonight, as I celebrate this day I have worked for, as I stand at the gate leading the way to this Beacon of mine, I will pause and reflect and resolve my mind for the long journey ahead.  The beautiful mornings, the brutal winds, the soft sunshine, the freezing rain, the softness of footsteps in snow... all of these future moments which will make that trail from this gateway to the summit of the Boston Marathon finishing line a journey of change and renewal.