It is hard to believe another year has passed. It seems like only yesterday when I was flying to Orlando to run the Dopey Challenge. I remember sitting on the plane wondering how it would go and would I be able to complete all four races. I was nervous and excited at the same time. In the end it was one of the best running experiences I have had in my running life. I was so euphoric as I crossed the finish line of the marathon having run 48.6 miles over four days. It was at that exact moment I realized what running had become for me – freedom. Running gives me enough freedom from life’s burdens to keep wanting to do it more and often. It frees me from my dark thoughts and stresses minimizing them until they disappear entirely. As I finish each run, I am free from all the darkness and stress thankful to be able to simply focus on the run itself and every unconscious breath I take each time I head out.
Running is my healthy addiction. To say that I am obsessed with running does not truly capture how much it is a part of my life. Running has allowed me to see parts of the world I would never see from a car or plane. I get to see new places on foot and really experience them on a micro-level. Each training run or race is a singular adventure that only I can experience. It allows me to be fully in tune with my body and marvel at what it can do. I constantly challenge myself to see if there is a limit to what I can do or how far I can push my body. Running has taught me that I can accomplish anything if I put in the work and push myself to the limit. So it is not just an obsession but a passion.
Running has shown me that it is a huge community of giving people. I have found some of my closest friends through running. All of the adventure relay races I have run have shown me who my true supporters are. They are the crazy runner friends that wake up at 4:30 AM on race day to head to the starting line to cheer the first runner on. They are the ones that stand out on a desolate road in the middle of the night, cold and tired just to cheer me on. To me this is the definition of friendship and love. Our love for each other is now greater than our love for running. And these are the people that I would do anything for and will hold them in my heart until I reach my final finish line.
As a Jew and a runner, I believe that every single person is put on this earth and at this time, with a mission of tikkun olam – repairing the world. That repair must come through human actions. It is our responsibility to change, improve, and fix our world in any way we can. As a runner, I have run 4 different marathons for charity where I raised money to fund research in finding cures for cancer. I do this because as a Jew, I know that I must have a hand in working towards the betterment of our own existence as well as the lives of future generations. Running allows me to do this. It is individuals like me, not God, who will bring the world back to its original state of holiness. Runners know this truth even if they are not Jewish. Runners take care of each other and are there to lift each other up when they are down because we have all been there. We runners do this because we know we are not only skin, bones and blood but heart and soul.
Of course I have learned perseverance and resilience over my running life. But that flash of insight I received as I crossed the WDW Marathon finish line last January was the clarity that we are all in this together. As runners, we push and strive to reach great heights in our sport. When we achieve those heights, we understand the deepest parts of our soul. We know that there is an unlimited reserve of potential deep within us, we just need to dig into the most hidden parts of our hearts and souls to release it. And most importantly, runners know that we need each other to reach that finish line. When we model good and caring behaviors, we are the individuals helping to repair our world. When the rest of the world understands that and lives it like we runners do, then we finally bring our world back to holiness.
Happy New Year!
Dec 2 – 6.20 miles (1:05:00, 10:29 pace) – Hill Repeats
Dec 3 – 7.30 miles (1:00:47, 8:20 pace) – Speed Work
Dec 5 – 9.40 miles (1:22:34, 8:37 pace) – Tempo Run
Dec 6 – 4.20 miles (40:11, 9:34 pace)
Dec 7 – 7.10 miles (1:08:59, 9:43 pace)
Dec 8 – 8.10 miles (1:17:00, 9:30 pace)
Dec 9 – 5.20 miles (54:29, 10:29 pace) – Hill Repeats
Dec 13 – 4.50 miles (41:47, 9:17 pace)
Dec 14 – 8.10 miles (1:14:36, 9:13 pace)
Dec 15 – 8.30 miles (1:19:08, 9:32 pace)
Dec 16 – 5.80 miles (1:01:10, 10:33 pace) – Hill Repeats
Dec 17– 6.90 miles (59:53, 8:41 pace) – Speed Work
Dec 19 – 9.10 miles (1:21:38, 8:58 pace) – Tempo Run
Dec 20 – 4.50 miles (41:37, 9:15 pace)
Dec 21 – 8.10 miles (1:16:54, 9:29 pace)
Dec 22 – 7.30 miles (1:08:39, 9:24 pace)
Dec 23 – 5.20 miles (54:31, 10:29 pace) – Hill Repeats
Dec 24 – 7.70 miles (01:06:15, 8:36 pace) – Speed Work
Dec 26 – 10.40 miles (1:32:34, 8:54 pace) – Tempo Run
Dec 27 – 4.10 miles (37:02, 9:02 pace)
Dec 28 – 8.20 miles (1:17:19, 9:26 pace)
Dec 30 – 6.10 miles (1:04:34, 10:35 pace) – Hill Repeats
Dec 31 – 6.70 miles (56:03, 8:22 pace) – Speed Work
Total Miles: 158.50 miles
2019 Total Miles: 1,695.80 miles
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