Table of Marathons

11 MCM (not for time) 11 Wineglass (950/1442)
10 MCM (not for time) 09 MCM (348/1076)
09 Washington's Birthday Marathon (22/44) 08 MC Historic Half (51/210)
07 Frederick Marathon (32/60) 06 MCM (394/1076)
05 MCM (547/1047)

Monday, September 27, 2010

Transformation

I mentored Denise through a 21 mile run yesterday. She came through phenomenally well. Her journey to marathon distance has brought a transformation in body and mind. In body, she has hardened and curved and rolled back decades of aging. What has really been amazing to me is her mind transformation. Her success at distance has bred a determination and transformation in mind to succeed that is quite opposite to the woman who used to get annoyed at me when I would quote Tere Stouffer Drenth's remark that success at the marathon depended simply upon the dictum: "All you have to do is do the miles." Denise weathered through the summer's 90 degree challenge and now basks in the strength of body and mind that can easily take her through 21 miles now, in the cool of the arriving fall.

At 21, 23, and ultimately 26.2, when I grasp her hand as she crosses her milestone, I kiss the hand of a woman who willfully transforms herself into someone better than she was.

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