Life

When you think about all the things we do in our lives to ensure that we are successful, weather it be careers, health, love, family, there are never any guarantees. You can achieve degrees of education on the highest level, but there is no guarantee that you will land that dream job, or even be happy if you do. You can exercise, eat healthful foods, get plenty of sleep, but that is no guarantee of lasting health or that you won't fall ill and possibly die before your time. You might even think you found your soul mate, but there is still no guarantee that this love will last. It seems at times that all we can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" or "If you ever want to make God laugh, make plans..." Are sayings that remind us of how uncertain life can be. It's because of this that when things do work out, I embrace those moments and try to appreciate them as much as I can. Once in a while things do come together and magnificent things do happen. It is my belief that this fact of life, that good things do happen to those who try, drives us to achieve them. I believe it is this realization that inspire us to be better, to reach out ahead and accomplish more. On Sunday I had the thrill of witnessing this firsthand.

Karen Dean ran the Silicon Valley Marathon on Sunday in San Jose with a purpose. Her goal was to qualify for the Boston Marathon, and to do that she needed to finish in under 4:05:59. Karen had run the Boston Marathon twice before, but this time she was running for her husband John. John had a goal to run Boston. He tried several times to qualify but never quite made it. Just when it seemed he would get his chance, John had a relapse of Cancer. He fought valiantly before losing his battle in March of this year. So when Karen started running again, it was clear what her focus would be. If you ever need to look for signs as to weather or not you should do something, they were abundant surrounding Karen's reasons for wanting to run Boston. 2007 is the 111th running of the Boston Marathon. John's birthday was 1/11. John and Karen met 11/11. Running Boston would be Karen's 11th marathon.

Karen trained long and hard. Long runs on the weekends, Tattersols on Wednesday nights. She went from being her husband's nursemaid for months with little or no exercise, to becoming a well conditioned athlete in a matter of a few months. With a week to go I could tell she was nervous, which is always a good sign. I so wanted to run with her, to support and help anyway I could, and I knew just where to meet her. I stood on the course that morning at mile 10.7 and waited till she got there. She was with Dom and had a big smile on her face. I ran with her from mile 11 to mile 12, she did a 9:00/min split for that mile, just as she had planned. I let her go and caught up with her again at mile 25.5, this time she had an entourage in tow. A dozen friendly faces offering words of encouragement and support, running along with her to the finish. There was no smile on her face this time, just a look of steel determination. I will never forget how great she looked, perfect form, strong and steady. She reached mile 26 with exactly 4:00 on the clock. Just as we crossed that mile marker, her pace picked up. Her group of admirers felt her energy and we all got louder. In a full sprint she crossed the finish line with a time of 4:01:19. She qualified. As she went through the chute we all just stood there smiling and laughing, looking at each other in celebratory amazement as we all enjoyed the moment. It was as if we all simultaneously understood that we had just witnessed something very special.

Good things do happen. Sometimes the best laid plans do work out. Sometimes when we want something bad enough, we can almost will them to fruition. And when our love for someone is so strong that it touches the people around you, it seems that nothing can stand in your way. Even if that person we love is very, very far away...

Karen Dean
bib number: 1111
location: San Jose, CA
Overall Place: 282 out of 1033
Division Place: 4 out of 16
Gender Place: 45 out of 270
Time: 4:01:19
Pace: 9:14