A few weeks ago I was part of a relay team that participated in the California International marathon or CIM. I had the last leg of the relay and ran 5.9 miles. I run with a club called gO! rUNNING gROUP and we had over 20 runners in the CIM. It was a lot of fun and very inspiring. I never thought that I could run a marathon. Up to today the furthest I have run was 13.1 miles and did that at the Urban Cow Half Marathon this past October.
My fellow running club friends inspire me every time I go out and run. We kid, we laugh, we joke, we run. So simple. And then I thought of the person in my life who inspires me the most. He runs a marathon every day of his life and has done so for over 30 years. The person I am talking about is my younger brother Brett. He was paralyzed from the chest down in a diving accident when he was 16 years old. He was a tremendous high school athlete prior to his accident. He played football and rushed over 1000 yards as a freshman. He also played baseball on his high school team.
When I took up running a year and a half ago, he was very encouraging to me. He has been interested in my experiences and encouraged me to read the book "Born to Run" which he had already read.
I am dedicating the next year of my life to training for a marathon (yet to be determined which one) in his honor. I can't carry him on my back, but I can carry him in my heart and share this journey with him via this blog. You are the best, Little Brother!!
