……And Counting
This past weekend at 6am in Logan Utah runners took off to start the Bear 100 trail race, a 100 mile Ultramarathon finishing in Fish Haven Idaho.
This past weekend was also the 9 year anniversary of my fathers passing. Its been a weird 9 years; we all go on with our lives but frequently something will be said or seen or heard and it brings back the reminder of missing a father, a parent and how finite a change in everybody’s life that is.
So what do the two previous comments have to do with each other?? I’ve been running trail races and Ultra’s for 2 years now and also thinking about the 10 year passing of my dad and what I’ll do- in the past I figured we’d head to the cemetery. Plans changed. I am going to be running the Bear 100, 2013 and plan on finishing that race on the 10 year anniversary of his death.
So you ask, huh? Well, sure, running this race is personal. It’s a challenge for me, one that is way above my comfort level, and has a great chance of a crash and burn disastrous DNF (Did not Finish for non runners). But it’s a challenge at age 50 that I want to do, to push myself and see how mentally and physically tough I can be. There is also a ton of free time to think. Usually its about how horrible I feel, but that weekend I’ll spend lots of time remembering the days with my dad, with the kids, the family, etc etc. I’ll be trying to draw strength from him and his memory. Isnt that what we do as kids- use our parents to help us through the hard times, selfishly? It’s a personal way for me to spend up to 36 hours (race cutoff time) alone with the thoughts of the 40 years with my dad (and the rest of my family).
Its less than a year now so the countdown begins. There is a long way to go for training, and I’ll know by year end if I am on target. But no matter, at 6am in the dark in Logan Utah I’ll be standing there with good friends Mike Saporito who is running and Dean Hugo who is fantastically going to help provide support , getting ready for the experience if a lifetime.