20 Miles for Emma

Last night, the phone rang at 12:15am. I assumed it was a wrong number but my wife answered the phone and I could tell right away it was not good news. It turns out, our 4 month old niece, who is in Children's Hospital, was not doing well and the call was actually to tell us that they weren't sure if she was going to make it. As you can imagine, this made for a long, emotional night, with phone calls coming every few hours with updates. By morning, it appears that she is doing better, though still not out of the woods yet.

So I had a 20 mile training run scheduled for this morning which I knew would be brutal even after a good night's sleep, let alone on hardly any sleep. Plus, I was still worried about the pain in my shin. Then I realized that no matter what I would go through during that run, it was nothing compared to what poor Emma is likely going through. So I decided to dedicate my run to Emma and try to send positive vibes and strength her way during each mile.

I have to say, it was one of the most emotional and spiritual runs I've ever had. As I completed each mile, I would say to myself, "one mile for Emma", "two miles for Emma", etc. As the miles accumulated, a mantra formed in my mind, which I repeated hundreds of times throughout the run, "may the power of this run give Emma strength". This eventually was shortened to "give Emma strength" over and over again. When I hit the tough last miles I started asking myself, "Can you run 25 more minutes for Emma?", "Yes, you can".

So I ran 20 miles for Emma. It was the least I could do. Hopefully, she somehow received my energy and love.