Sittin on the edge of the bed (sung to the tune of "Dock of the Bay"

"That's a great race. You can PR on that one for sure"

The youthful face in front of me effused enthusiasm. Though his words were well-meaning, they failed to grasp the obvious fact of my age. At 60, my "PRs" were set long before he was born. 

We were discussing upcoming races and the merits of each. My primary criteria these days are a flat course and who has the best snacks afterward. 

Being a "masters" runner still feels odd to me. I've run nearly all my life, my first official race occurring in the field behind Ray Marsh grade school at the age of 10. It was my first day as the "new kid" and reports had been circulating all day about the upcoming, dreaded 600 yard run. 

I had no idea how far that was, but I was told I should be terrified because we were all likely to die. The whistle blew and a hundred knees and elbows sprung into forward motion across the frozen Kansas field. I remember little except for opening my eyes about 50 yards from the finish and the shock and excitement I felt of being in first place. I nearly collapsed across the line, "1:38" announced Mr. Hershberg and he continued counting in metronomic rhythm. 

No one was within 10 seconds and, suddenly, the new 4th grade kid had some street cred. He just outran the entire school, all 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes. 

I was hooked and have been running ever since. 

Running has been the most consistent thing in my life. During a chaotic early home life, running gave me an escape. With no money for team sports, it was virtually free. And I was pretty good at it. And while, never the best, I learned early that the greatest rewards of running have little to do with medals and trophies. I got a few of those along the way, but running is my safe place. I've learned life lessons through running that I'm not sure I'd have garnered in any other way. 

And now, I'm relying on some of those skills to get me through an exceptionally challenging stage of life. As of the day of writing this, I just finished my 2nd bout of treatment for cancer. Non-Hodgkins lymphoma to be specific. 

And how am I approaching recovery after finishing the last infusion for a while? By writing a marathon training plan, of course!

I was too tired from the treatment to run today, so I planned. I thought that this time I'll blog about the journey. Not just the marathon journey. The cancer journey. Some major changes in my family life journey.  But that's how I often deal with life. I need the carrot of challenging myself to keep trying.