“Fin Du Marathon!”

(End of the Marathon)

Dany, Maureen’s husband, purchased customized shirts for the runners and the ‘crew’ and a medal for Maureen (I got mine later that night)

‘Simes/Conn 2021 Marathon Challenge’

We are so grateful for this bunch! Supportive, Generous, Kind and Considerate.

Finishing the Race!
26.2 miles!

Pit Crew cheering on!
Last 26 feet of 26 miles!

Covid a tout annulé. Alors, nous avons décidé d'annuler le Covid! 

(Covid canceled everything. So, we decided to cancel Covid!) 

On this particular May 6 (2021), Maureen was turning 54 and I was turning 60. I was entering a new decade. Of course I had planned a big 60th birthday bash complete with choreographed yoga-party dance moves, but Covid canceled that. And of course I had planned to fly friends and family in from out of state, but Covid canceled that as well. So, Maureen and I collectively decided to cancel Covid (THERE! Take that, you icky virus!). 

When the word “No!” is repeated over and over again, eventually a level of fatigue and resignation forces a decision to be made, “Give way. Give up. Give in. Or, give nothing.” Covid took a lot from us, but not everything, so we made a decision and we persisted.

I can always depend on my running partner, Maureen, as a co-conspirator in good mischief. 

Maureen and I share a birthday, May 6. We both fit the Taurus stereotype, for better or for worse. For better: “They value honesty more than their life.” For (sometimes) worse: “They are very stubborn by nature.”

Saskatchewan, Canada was her  birthplace. She married a French Canadian, Dany, and together they raised a family in a bilingual home. Their middle child is named Benjamin. Her Benjamin is the same age as our Benjamin. The boys met in Kindergarten and have been inseparable for the past 20 years. 

Now, of course Covid didn’t listen to us cancel it (it decided to persist too), but the behavior of mutually ignoring each other did help us in formulating the idea of organizing, planning, and following through with our own SLC marathon aspirations. 

And so we persisted.

But IS the trait of stubbornness REALLY a negative?

I’ve run a marathon once a decade since my 20s and I ran two in my 40s. The last time I ran a marathon, I was 2 weeks shy of my 44th birthday. If I were to continue with my “One marathon a decade” tradition, then NOW would be the time! So, we set a date: May 1st, 5 days before I turned 60 and entered a new decade.

I’m not a fast runner, I’m not a petite runner, I don’t run with grace. I kinda clumpity-clump down the road. But I’m a determined runner. I’ve never not finished a race. Although I have aspirations of winning in my age group when I’m 80, at the moment, I’m satisfied with crossing the finish line. So, if stubbornness and persistence are synonymous, then THAT is a proper description of who I am. And, I believe it to be a trait with Maureen as well.

Beginning in January, we followed guidelines of a training program for our race. We followed a design that would take approximately 20 weeks. Runner’s World offers some helpful suggestions in an article titled: 25 rules of successful marathon training. This helped us design our training.

A story about women who never took no for an answer

We cross-trained, diversified the terrain, practiced good recovery techniques, ate well, purchased proper equipment, but I think the one focus in our mind was to respect the achievement. Don’t fear the marathon. We knew this could lead us to making poor decisions in trying to progress too far, too fast, too soon. We wanted to respect the distance and the strains it was putting upon our body, but at the same time recognize it as an achievable task put before us. We wanted the marathon to feel possible.

And so we persisted.

What if…?

The basis of persistence is desire

There was a time in my life when I needed (relied on, in fact) science to catch up (persist, if you will)  to my own desires.

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali alludes to the influence of scientific advances during Dali's lifetime. The stark yet dreamlike scenery reflects a Freudian emphasis on the dream landscape while the melted watches may refer to Einstein's Theory of Relativity, in which the scientist references the distortion of space and time.

Salvador Dali, Persistence of Memory, 1931

What if…?
The process to get there will only be fully executed if that goal
matters
enough to get us through. 

When I was 43 years old, I received a breast cancer diagnosis. I was in the middle of training when this occurred. I asked the doctors, “After surgery, can I finish the race and then begin treatment? I need to finish the race.” My doctors met with their respective teams and returned to me with their terms, “You can run the race, but we must then begin treatment immediately.” 

I completed the marathon on a Saturday and began treatment the following Monday.

What if…?
Deep desire propels us and makes us persistent, and persistence pays off: 
it gives us the needed energy and focus to keep climbing that mountain that leads to our goal.

In regards to my cancer, I imagine that my persistence, my stubbornness, acted as some sort of a survival mechanism. It kept me motivated when I was tempted to give up. And I wonder what would have happened if I had lacked persistence at that time. Would I have  struggled to thrive, to survive?

I don’t know that I can answer that in a globally sure way. After all, I’ve known many strong, persistent fighters when it came to cancer who didn’t also end up as lucky as me. All I know is, for me, deciding to go ahead with the marathon gave me hope, strength, and courage. It taught me that I’d rather strive in this body. I’d rather persist in this body. I’d rather imagine that my human form can rise to meet a challenge. 

I think the everlasting COVID-19 “No!” proclamation to what appeared to be (All) things, brought us to this tipping point of To Persist or not To Persist. I taught Physical Education in my living room and then I was a Reading Specialist at my dining room table for a solid year. The charge to remain positive and upbeat took a toll on both me and my students. The responsibility to carry and hold space for my students was a huge responsibility that I took very seriously. I felt like it was up to me to keep them engaged, whole, and endorphins-releasing happy teenagers! But once the screen turned off, my own batteries required re-charging. I somehow needed to feel joy amidst my fatigue. 

So, I chose a marathon.

(Not most people’s first choice, but what can I say? I’m just a humble taurus with a well-nurtured addiction to the runner’s high! )

When I called Maureen, she was immediately on board. She was still completing school, in addition to working ¾ time as a nurse. Her vessel emptied frequently and our mutual desire to design a goal, work toward it, and then succeed in it ran high!

The fact that life persisted WHILE we were training did not interfere. It didn’t matter that we found ourselves training in different states at times. We didn’t allow caretaking of various family members outside of running routes to interfere. I taught my classes from California while care-taking for my mom and ran with sunrise or sunset.  The new normal simply required a flexible mind (in addition to flexible hamstrings). 

We persisted. 

Each Saturday brought the report of how well we ran, the conditions of our run and, if we felt comfortable, the time for which we ran it in. Any injuries were reported and dealt with. Any emotional blocks were discussed and managed. We were each other’s support staff.

On the day of the race it was pre-determined that I needed to ‘run’ separately as my left knee was not well and most likely required surgery (I ended up having surgery over Christmas break 7 months later). 

Maureen ran 18.7 laps around Liberty Park. 

I ran 26.2 miles at VASA on an elliptical machine.

I began at 5:30 a.m. and met Maureen at the park when I finished around 10:30-11:00.

She was nearing the end and had her son and husband join her for the final laps. 

Our cheering crowds were a delightful group of firefighters and their family members from Michael’s station who called and texted me throughout the race with inspirational stories. I had a workout friend who joined Michael and I on an elliptical for the better part of an hour. Our support staff also consisted of Maureen’s family members who provided liquids, chocolate covered coffee beans, honey and anything else she requested as she lapped them 18 times.

Their cheers were essential to our success in meeting our goals. 

We had no sponsors, no seeded runners, no cow bells and whistles from strangers cheering us on. Our finish-line goal was simply met with our loving cooperative community of friends and family, good weather and a promised nap at the end of it all.

Contentment isn’t giving up. It’s getting real about what you want and acting from a supportive place.

In the end, we each received our promised nap on a cool bed with a soft breeze blowing across our faces. In the end, our husbands prepared the most bountiful of meals and presented us with our medals. 

For the previous 5 months, our focus had been on the future race. Then suddenly our focus became the present. We each felt a sense of calm knowing that what we had accomplished didn’t mean that we were suddenly now going to stop striving. It simply meant that we were satisfied with where our lives are in the present moment. 

And this felt good.

I wanted to share this story with you today as I remember and celebrate that triumph of persistence to remind you that you are worthy of any goal you set. Don’t let perceived barriers keep you from doing what will give you joy. Your joy is what lights up the world around you!

5:30 a.m. arriving for my Marathon.

Mile 20 (trying not to HIT the wall)

Completing my Marathon. 26.2 miles

Fin