It’s been a kind of hectic week here in the studio, just plain busy mixed in with the unavoidable distractions that life sometimes throws at us. In the chaos of yesterday, I realized that I was remiss in not mentioning that my nephew, Greg, had run in his first Boston Marathon on Monday.
He has run for quite some time now as a recreational runner and in recent years has blossomed, finishing near the front in some races and winning a few along the way. Even in his early forties, his times have kept improving due to his hard work and dedication to his running.
So it was a thrill Monday to have the race on as he ran in the rain on those Boston streets. Throughout the race, I kept getting text messages with his times at different points in the race and was impressed by the constancy of his pace which hardly wavered at all throughout the day.
At the end of the day, in less than idea conditions with rain and wind, he came across the line in a personal best 2:53:40. That placed him at 1348 overall out of a field of about 30,000 runners and 160th (out of about 2700) in his class– an impressive finish for his first effort on the hallowed course.
I was really proud to see Greg have such a great effort and to have a satisfying result to go along with it. It’s a wonderful thing to witness someone achieving personal bests through their own hard efforts. My hope is that Greg’s three young sons understand the great lesson he is setting before them and will use it to find something of their own to focus on and work hard at so that they may set their own personal bests throughout their lives.
That would make this race even more of a personal triumph.
So, well done, Greg. Long may you run.
Redtree Times 
While I may never BQ (at least until I age up and can qualify with a higher time), I respect the marathon and am so happy I am the owner of this evocative piece of art. It inspires me every day. 2:53 is awesome, Greg has serious running cred!
Thought you might appreciate his efforts, Gene. Glad you’re still finding inspiration in this painting–that means a lot to me. All the best to you!
You men get so hierarchical, always comparing yourselves to see who’s better. Winning is nowhere near as important as simply starting and finishing. I wonder how many are prevented from participating in something by the thought that they cannot win at it or through fear that others will judge them and find them wanting. Begin something, consistently give it your best effort, finish it knowing that you have done your best, and devil take anyone who doesn’t think that’s good enough. If you finish something knowing that you have given it the best that is within you to give, then you have won the most important prize there is.
You’re right, winning is nowhere near as important as simply starting and finishing. I know for my nephew that has always been the case– just being able to complete a task for his own personal satisfaction. It was never about trying to win and simply about trying to do a bit better than he had in the past. And I think for the most part, events like the Boston Marathon are all about that. The focus is on the elite runners who compete for the victory– men and women– but most runners are just trying to do their best. I think there were thousands of runners who finished feeling as though they were the winners on that day. I am sure Greg was among them.
On Fri, Apr 24, 2015 at 9:06 PM, Redtree Times wrote:
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