I ran into a friend, today, at the gym. I haven't seen him since September because I haven't been to the gym since september....shhhh.
After our normal "what have you been up to" chatter, he says, "I turn 50 this year, in May. My wife was asking me what I wanted for my birthday. So, I say 'I want to run 50 miles'. She said 'Well, you'll do that anyway. I want to know what you really want.' "
He went on: I had this idea. Why don't I run 50 miles with friends? I wonder if anyone would do it? I started asking people if they would run parts of the course with me, anything a half mile or 20 miles. Do you know everyone I asked jumped on board to do this. Here's the best part. I'm doing the last 2 miles with Joe* (*not his real name). AND everyone who ran a portion of the 50 miles is going to meet up at mile 48 and finish the last two miles with me and joe. Joe can only go 1 mile per hour, so it will take us 2 hours, but everyone is going to finish with us!
***
Now, this story is pretty amazing. 25 people signed up to run with my friend to find time to run pieces of this birthday run with him. Then, it might occur to you that the last person, Joe, only goes 1 mph. You might be asking "why does Joe move so slowly"? Joe has no arms or legs. Every day at the gym, he walks on his "stubs" (as he calls them) around the track, every.day. for 1 mile. 1 hour of walking around the gym track. For 1 hour, 6 laps and 1 mile without arms or legs. And this guy, who has no arms or legs and takes an hour to go 1 mile, volunteered to do the last TWO miles with my friend.
During my run, I was in awe. First of all, what a FANTASTIC idea for a birthday present. Second, what an amazing experience this will be having 25 or so friends all walking the last 2 miles for 2 hours, together.
It makes me speechless.
