Overcomers

Yesterday Mike and I went downtown to cheer a friend of ours on in the Denver Marathon. We saw him at mile 18, mile 20 and at the finish line. It hasn't struck me until today how much of an accomplishment this really was. I've never run a mile in a my life unless you count an elliptical machine running. I'm a walker and a hiker, not a runner. Mike said yesterday that when he runs less than a mile on pavement, his ankles and knees start killing him. Granted, both of us could probably run a marathon if 1) we really wanted to and 2) if we trained. But from our vantage point today, running 26.2 miles is quite a feat.

Our friend finished in just over four hours -- about 10 minutes over his goal. He took the missed goal in stride, though, admitting that he hadn't trained as much as he wanted to or needed to. He has the Ironman triathlon in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, to look forward to and train for next June. My younger brother and uncle just did the Ironman Wisconsin in September, so I know what our friend is about to endure.

After the marathon, our friend said he started to struggle at about the half-way mark. As his legs burned and he willed himself to keep going, he told us he praised God for the pain, praised God that he even had the legs to run the race. Several fellow marathoners along the way -- one blind, one in a wheelchair -- served as inspiration for him to keep going.

I saw this article (linked below) today about a man who was paralyzed, learned to walk and eventually run to compete in yesterday's race. All we need is stories like this to remind us that we are capable of far more than we imagine. The battle to overcome is in our minds, not in our limitations.

Denver man overcomes paralysis to complete Denver Marathon - The Denver Post

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