Tag Archives: NYC Marathon

The best of the best

Leave a reply

The best of the best

My prodigal has been feeling ill over the past few days with a headache she can’t shake and a runny nose that could have won the NYC Marathon.  True champion that she is at the offer of a day home in bed, she’s in the shower clearing her mind and her nostrils to do battle with the day.  In her case, her usual array of 6th grade classes and a make-up science test in an attempt to better her grade.

This is par for the course for her though.  And I’m reminded that as a second grader she stayed up till the then unseemly hour of 10:15 PM to finish a project for class.  She was studying bridges that year and she could barely remain awake as she completed the last final touches to make her bridge that much better.

I was in awe then at her resolve to work through the problem — and though my husband and I had to fight our instincts to demand that she go to bed, her tired but triumphant self-satisfaction the next morning was inspiring and brought much more than a tear to the eye.

She is no less triumphant this morning, exiting from the shower with a smile and saying, “I feel happy and I’m awake!”

Would that all of us could take a cue from that simple construct.

Of marathons and dreams

Leave a reply

Of marathons and dreams.

Yesterday was the annual New York City Marathon.  Elite runners aside, the NYC Marathon is made up of the tens of thousands of little stories about endurance and heart that see runners  pursuing their dreams of completing the 26-mile course through the streets of the five boroughs.

It’s a day when runners are cheered on by the crowds of New Yorkers lining the route; clapping and pulling for the ones that seem tired or lagging, and reading all the special dreams on people’s T-shirts.  We recognize ourselves in those dreams; of work we pursue with dogged determination and grit, or friends we know and love who endure hardship.

We are each marathoners in one way or another in how we ply our boards day after day to accomplish goals large and small.  For the boxer, it’s not so much the fight as the pursuit of perfection in each jab thrown in the daily grind of the gym.

To my mind, yesterday was a celebration for all us who push to accomplish something, so congratulations to all of us for getting the job done.