March Matching Madness (Please don't sue me, NCAA.)

Let's start with some numbers:

• The Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley will celebrate its 123rd birthday this year. (Incidentally, this year will be the 120th running of the Boston Marathon.)
• RMMV's doors are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (yes, 366 this year).
• From 10/1/14-9/31/15, RMMV served 230,315 meals.
• That same fiscal year saw 47,657 overnight stays.
• The average number of people sleeping at the RMMV is 120-150 people per night. 
• The RMMV's annual budget of just over $2,000,000 is provide solely by private donations.
• 79% of those donations go directly to clients, meaning RMMV maintains very little in overhead costs.

Please consider these very real statistics as you give and share this fundraising campaign.

And speaking of the Mission Possible campaign, I have some exciting news. First, I have raised my goal to $26,200. If you have already contributed, thank you, and know there is nothing stopping you from giving again (and again and again, as you are moved to give). Second, March Matching Madness. I have (thus far) recruited three households who will each match March's total donations, up to $2500! With seven weeks until race day, this is a huge encouragement to me personally, but also an enormous blessing to the Rescue Mission, its staff, volunteers, and clients. I am beyond thrilled about this development in the fundraising campaign. If you are willing and able to join March's matching donors (even if not for the full $2500), please don't hesitate to contact me about that. You could even assemble to team of people to be part of the the matching campaign.

Finally, this week's training log. Things shifted a little out of necessity, but this will all see familiar.

Monday: XT at the House of Cakes

Tuesday: 8.04 miles

Wednesday: 8.02 miles

Thursday: XT @ BTF!

Friday: 4.39 miles

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 12.06 miles

Total: 32.51 miles

February's mileage: 131 miles

Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, November 2013

Community 2.0

This is what I ran on for 18 miles this morning--equal parts snow, ice, and slush. This is exhausting, and my running buddy noted that on days like this you don't worry about perfect form. Earlier this week we got over a foot of fresh snow. And a week ago, as noted previously, the wind chill factor dipped to -12 degrees. This morning? I started running around 7:15, and the temperature was 45, on its way to a high in the 60s. Welcome to northeast Ohio, I guess.

I include a picture of this trail, though, because at the end of this arduous run, my feet were cold and wet. (At one point a tractor was parked on the trail, and in order to avoid it I had to run through six inches of freezing, muddy water.) This, in turn, reminded me of a conversation I once had with a homeless man who said one of the things he most covets is fresh, dry socks. Seriously. That's humbling because I have more than one drawer filled with clean socks, some I haven't worn in a year or more! And I barely think twice about it. (I really ought to carry a bag of them in my car to give away.)

In Life of the Beloved, Henri Nouwen writes (to his friend), "You live in New York. I live in Toronto. As you walk down Columbus Avenue and I down Yonge Street, we can have no illusions about the darkness. The loneliness, the homelessness, and the addictedness of people are all too visible. Yet all of these people yearn for a blessing. That blessing can be given only by those who have heard it themselves." And later, "Our humanity comes to its fullest bloom in giving. We become beautiful people when we give whatever we can give: a smile, a handshake, a kiss, an embrace, a word of love, a present, a part of our life...all of our life." Don't you see, friends, you and I have so very much. We have been blessed. Simply, I have a drawer filled with socks that I've all but forgotten about. And all people really want is a blessing. Not a handout. But to know they are loved. You are loved. You can (and should) love.

Some of my training got shifted a bit this week on account of the snow. But here's how it went.

Monday: Cross-train
Tuesday: Rest (which included clearing driveways)
Wednesday: 6.02 miles, repeats
Thursday: HIIT at Body Temple Fitness, yo! + 7.26 miles
Friday: 3.02 miles
Saturday: 18.01 miles
Total: 34.31 miles

To date, you've helped me raise $7384 for the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley! And I cannot thank you enough for your encouragement and support. Please feel free to share the fundraising campaign with your friends and family.

Pittsburgh Marathon, 5/5/2013

Community

My Canadian friend uses words like "crusty" and "misanthropic" to describe me, words that I appreciate and embrace. The truth is, if given the choice I would likely hole up somewhere with some books, some music, and a very limited number of my favorite people, rarely going out in public to engage with the world. This is, in part, why another friend (let's call him "Narp") asked me why I choose to run with other people, why I continue to invite others along for training runs.

While there are different answers to this ("Speed work is easier with someone else;" "When long runs get difficult, another person takes your mind off of your own pain;" "Share the suffering.") the simple response is "I must." Something very natural happens when running with a buddy. Inhibitions break down, and truth (sometimes very ugly truth) surfaces. Narp ultimately recognizes this--that sharing physical suffering leads to broken inhibitions, leads to direct community where the participants celebrate a good effort after commiserating over terrible discomfort. 

And this is what happened to me yesterday as I ran with yet another friend, Frodo. The weather was cold, windy, snowy. (Although I recently read a statement that I'm adopting: "There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.") And we had to cover 14 miles, with consistent hill climbs. Frodo and I complained to one another, urged one another on, swore under our breaths (at times at one another), and then rejoiced when we finished tormenting ourselves. This is community.

And this is another reason the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley is so important to me. As I've mentioned before, RMMV is only seven short miles from my home. The men, women, and children who work, volunteer, and reside at the Mission are my neighbors. They are my friends. They are my brothers and sisters. They seek to help, not simply to give a hand out but to give a hand, to encourage a "new way for a better tomorrow." On any given Sunday at their chapel service, I hear men and women alike giving thanks for each other, for the friends they've made there, knowing that it is within community that they are healed. If you're interested, check out their blog.

Training:
Monday: Swimming
Tuesday: 4.37 miles (temp run)
Wednesday: 7.07 miles
Thursday: Swimming
Friday: 4.08 miles
Saturday: Rest (It was -12 degrees with the wind chill. Too cold even for me!)
Sunday: 13.88 miles
Total: 29.4 miles, nine weeks to race day

To date, you've helped me raise nearly $6000 for RMMV. That equates to nearly 3000 meals! Thank you. Won't you help me reach (and even surpass) my goal of $10,000 by sharing this fundraising campaign with friends and family? 

Post-race hug with my bride at the 2012 Columbus Marathon (#3)

Welcome Back

It's been so long, dear readers, that it will be virtually impossible for me to catch up on the details. Since my last running post, I've completed seven more marathons, several half marathons, and covered thousands more miles. In fact, in total miles, I've covered the distance between Los Angeles and New York City more than twice since then. But that's not why you're here. You're here for a story.

In October of 2015, my lovely bride and I decided to join some friends on a trip to Boston to cheer on our mutual friend (one of the toughest guys I know) as he runs the Boston Marathon. (If that doesn't mean much to you, see here, here, or here to read why it's such a big deal.) After deciding the four of us would make the trip, my friend (let's call him "Cakes") casually says, "I have a working relationship with some people at John Hancock (the title sponsor of the Boston Marathon). I wonder if we could get you in."

I looked Cakes in the eye. And walked away.

Let's be clear about something: I'm a realist. Well, about most things, but especially about running. I know my own marathon PR (3:58, twice) and that in order to qualify for Boston (yes, you have to post a qualifying time in order to get in. The Tough Guy posts sub-3 hour marathons in his sleep), I'd have to drop nearly 45 minutes from that. And so I figured if I ever wanted to qualify, I'd need to get much faster in a relatively short amount of time or maintain the same pace for another 40 years. (For you fact-checkers, I'd have to keep the same pace for another 25 years, but that doesn't seem nearly as dramatic or funny.) In short, I never really dreamed about running Boston. I just want to keep running marathons as long as I'm alive and healthy (see this guy for inspiration), even if it takes 8 hours. But Boston?! My brain couldn't even process the possibility.

And what does Cakes do (without my request or prodding, I should add)? The very next day he sends me a screenshot of an email response he'd already received from someone at John Hancock about getting me a fundraising waiver number. "Thanks, Cakes, but please don't send me any more updates because my next marathon is this Sunday, and I need to get my head straight before I can even think about this."

For now, I'll gloss over completing my 8th marathon and say that 8 days after Cakes initially makes his preposterous proposition, I receive an email. "Welcome to the 2016 John Hancock Boston Marathon Invitational Program!" Whaaaaaat?

Now it's my turn to share some screenshots. In the flurry of excitement, one friends simply points me to Psalm 37:4. The crazy thing is (and as I hope I made clear above), I've never imagined I'd run the Boston Marathon. How could this be considered the "desire of my heart"? But my friend is right. The opportunity to run this race is a blessing, one I have to delight in and take seriously.

That is why, faithful readers, I am working hard (thanks to a revamped training plan by my brother-in-law Bungo) to cover the miles. And that is why I have chosen to raise money for the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley. I'll tell you more about the RMMV in the coming weekly blog posts, but know that this place, while so very much more than a simple homeless shelter or soup kitchen, feels like home to me. The residents, academy members, volunteers, and staff are my friends and neighbors. To date, a little more than 4 weeks into the fundraising campaign, we've raised over 50% of the $10,000 goal!

If you'd like to contribute to the campaign, you can donate at my CrowdRise page or send a check directly to the Rescue Mission with "RB to Boston" in the memo line. Thank you in advance for your donation.

Here's my mileage for the week:

Monday- 4.38
Tuesday- 5.02
Wednesday- 7.27
Thursday- 1-mile swim
Friday- 3.1
Saturday- 15.06
Total: 34.83 miles

This is a picture after my second marathon, the Canton Marathon, from Father's Day 2012.