All We Did was Run ...

Oftentimes the reason we do something is as important as the way we achieve it.  This is not always apparent, but sometimes becomes very clear.  I participated in the Keys 100, a one hundred mile race from mile marker 100 in Key Largo to mile marker 0 in Key West.  I was a member of a six-runner relay team to honor our fallen shipmates.  It was an experience to say the least, both touching and inspiring.  I dedicate this blog to the Duque Family, it was both an honor and a privilege to have been a part of the team.

The Team and Supporters taking a short break.

The memorable aspect was not the challenge of the race, but the purpose behind it.  In running for our fallen shipmates, we ran for something more.  The support of the ones that had lost their children or friends was our reason to push to the end.  I cannot put in words the feeling of crossing that finish line as a team below the broken starry sky and the supporting families to cheer us on.  We were hurting with every step, but the joy of completion was overwhelming.  It is still hard to believe that 15 Relay teams ran 1500 miles to show respect for those they had served with.

The Race began at 0600 on Saturday morning and I don’t believe that anyone on our team knew what we were about to do.  The startling line was composed of characters from your serious runner to the male ballerina swans.  I have run for most of my life, but the last time I ran twenty miles in a day was about ten years ago while running cross country in high school.  Of the six members of our team, two could be considered avid runners.  Everyone ran an initial five-mile leg of the trip.  This was not a particularly difficult leg considering we all had fresh legs.  Once we had rotated through, we all ran our second leg.  The fatigue has started to set in, but the apex of the challenge was still to come.  For me, it was my third leg. 

After a five and four mile leg, I ran eight miles over seven mile bridge.  The run started just fine, with a minor misdirection onto the wrong bridge.  Fortunately someone informed me that the other bridge is the one I wanted.  I am glad they did, considering the non-continuous walkway only went about a mile out before I would have had to swim the rest of the way.  At this point I met the line of endless orange cones going off as far as I could see.  They vanished at the central rise of the bridge and beyond the next island looked close.  I kept running thinking that at the rise, I would be near the end.  Unfortunately, I was wrong.  The next island was not close and the cones still went as far as I the eye could see.  I could see the other island, but I was probably less than halfway done.  The sun was beating down, a small breeze would occasionally provide some relief and I just kept running.  I could finally make out the light poles running parallel to the bridge when I hit the wall and had to stop and stretch.  I started running again, and although every step was painful, I knew the end was near.  After an hour and ten minute run, the next runner relieved me.  My next two legs were still painful due to the fatigue, but tolerable and short in comparison.  When we crossed the finish line, I had run approximately 22 miles.

 A little celebration the next day.

 I suppose mile marker one is when the reverence settled in.  We were all meeting up to run the final mile and had reached Key West after running 99 miles.  I was looking up at the sky where a break in the clouds had revealed the starry night above.  The challenge of the race had been the heat, distance and fatigue we were all feeling.  I had been so focused on running that all I had seen most of the day was the path in front of me.  Even though I was tired and hurting like all of us were, we knew we would not fail.  It was a long last mile, but the Duque family met us a little off the finish line to guide us in and the camera crew from the Coast Guard was waiting.  The only thing I felt when crossing that line was satisfaction and joy.  We had succeeded as a team.

Seven Mile Bridge

I have never lost a friend in the line of duty, nor had to bury a child.  I did not know the Duque family or other effected families.   I cannot even fathom what it is like to go through what they have had to come to grips with.  All we did was run, but that small act meant the world to them.  On the rare occasion, we have the opportunity to immeasurable impact someone’s life in a positive way.  I can only hope that as individuals and as a group, we have the courage to do so.