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2014 Boston Marathon: A Thank You Note.

Running; for me it is not an individual effort. I have said it many time and many ways and I'm going to say it one more time. I couldn't run like I do with out a whole lot of help and this year the Boston Marathon and the training cycle that proceeded it just magnified that fact. If you haven't already read the race report you can find it here. As you might imagine I had support and encouragement from everywhere, social media, work, church, the gym I belong to. It was the Boston Marathon after all. Even people who have no interest in running know about and respect this historic road race. But when I got hurt 8 weeks out there were 3 people who really stepped it up and helped me limp through the last 8 weeks and without them I wouldn't have been able to run Boston at all and I'd like to take a minute to thank them.

First of all, to deal with my injury I went to St. Vincent Sports Performance in Carmel which is about 45 minutes from my house. The doctor set me up with one of their trainers to keep me patched up and running through the injury allowing me to maintain enough fitness to actually go and finish the race. Scott Hudson is a trainer at SVSP. Scott kept me running with a variety of joint manipulation techniques and soft tissue work. I would literally limp in after a 15 mile run and after an hour with Scott I would walk out. It was pretty amazing. I don't think just any trainer could do this. But as as a 100 mile utlra-marathon finisher,  Scott understands running. Thanks Scott!

All of the time I spent with Scott including driving to an from the facility brings me to my boss, Dave McChesney. Before my initial visit to the doctor Dave said "right now, Boston is top priority. Do whatever you need to do." What I needed to do was visit Scott twice a week during business hours. So on Tuesdays and Thursdays Dave allowed me to come in at 10:00 AM after I had been to see Scott. Getting into to Scott could have been much more complicated and Dave would have been justified in not letting me miss so much work. But instead he invested himself in my running and gave me the freedom I needed to get through. Thanks Dave!

Now, if you read any of my race reports or follow my training in any way you know who the 3rd person I need to thank is. Do you ever get sick of how thankful I am for my wife? This woman puts as much if not more in my running than I do. From making sure I have the things I need to run and coordinating all of the details for races, keeping me honest when I don't have the motivation and giving me a kick in the butt when I need it. Even getting up early to ride her bike along side me in the last 5 miles of a stupid long run. She truly makes me feel like a pro.

This injury was no different. She watched and learned from Scott so that the 5 days a week I wasn't seeing him she could work on me to keep it all held together. She spent her evenings and even lunch hours working on my injury so that I could get back out there in an effort to maintain as much fitness as possible. She listened to me whine, she listened to me wallow in self pity, she provided the assurance that I would run Boston. That I would finish, and that it would all be OK. Not one complaint. The whole time. Not one. Thanks Honey, you are the best!

Running is often seen as an individual sport and I suppose in many ways it is. I suppose a person could run without support, without a team, For me though, I know that I couldn't run like I do without a whole lot of help. To all of my social media friends, dailymile people, church friends, and especially the 3 people mentioned in this post. Thanks!

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