Pheidippides

Marathon, Greece, 490 B.C.

Pheidippides, a Greek warrior brings news to Athens, "Victory" and collapses in exhausted death.

The Persian army was defeated, and Greece was safe for the Greeks.

Poor Pheidippides was only dead...dead and remembered.



Ok, so I had to look up his name. I kind of knew the story. I remembered the idea behind the marathon. The battle, the Greekness of it, the ancient Olympic event... but nobody really expected me to remember the name Pheidippides, did they?

He certainly wasn't on my mind when Olivia casually asked me a few weeks ago if I would run a marathon for her. He wasn't on my mind when I bought my pedometer. And, he wasn't on my mind when I ran the first two miles on my 6 month training schedule.

But, Pheidippides was my kindred spirit when I had my first day of fartlek training. I thought for sure my chest was going to explode. (Hint to those inspired by the journey I'm now taking: don't eat anything with syrup when you're going to run!)

Yes. Bryan is running a marathon. He's joining one of the world's oldest sub-cultures. It's not an impossible thing to imagine, but I'm still excited about it. I'm be running in San Antonio on November 15th. I've never raced further than 5K, and I've probably never run much longer than that, even growing up.

So, while it may amuse some people to wonder why in the world I'd do something like this to myself, it's actually pretty simple: Why not?

Comments

Olivia said…
Yes, you are going to do this and I'm gonna be so proud of you! I can't wait until Novemeber! Love you.
June 2, 2009 at 2:48 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Caption Contest!

Image
Today Micah reached 2 lbs, 0.5 ounces. In order to celebrate, Olivia (and Micah) suggested a competition. So, here's the deal: Think of a caption for this picture and contribute it in the Comments below by clicking on the underlined word "comments". The winner will get a guest appearance on a popular sitcom, a cash prize of $2000.00, and a special gift from Micah. (Well, maybe just a special gift from Micah!) Micah also asked me to tell you that she is progressing on her ventilator and her lungs have cleared very well because her lungs are growing. Praise God! She did have to have a transfusion to get her red blood cells up where they need to be, because she is making less blood than she uses. (But, hey! She's only 5 weeks and 1 day old [gestationally 28 weeks, 5 days] and is amazingly making making her own blood, how much more do you expect?) So, think of your caption, enter it in Comments below, and keep praying! Add Your Caption Here {click below}
Read more

Gone

We saw her born. I cut her cord. We waited. We loved and thanked her birth-parents. We visited with them, ate with them, rejoiced with them. We took her from the hospital. We watched her all night. We hardly slept. We set up stations for changing and sleeping. We fed her. We changed her. We worried about germs. We held her. We prayed over her. We sang to her. We talked to her. We cleaned the stub of her umbilical cord. We memorized her changing little face: her nose, her ears, her blue eyes, her soft dark hair. She was perfect and we fell in love right away. She squeaked. She sighed. She looked at us. She snuggled. She held our fingers. She ate passionately, liked noise better than quiet, and learned to anticipate a camera's flash by the "1 - 2 - 3" that preceded it. Never had either of us been so happy. Yesterday, we packed her things in the car. We started driving back home. I drove. Olivia sat in the back with her. We sang praises to Jesus. Every mile was joy. We stopp
Read more

100 Days of Micah!

Image
Here are my girls! Today is Micah Ahava Elise's 100th day!     So, what are some of our favorite things about Micah?   1. She is alive! 2. All her labs are normal 3. She is 5 1/2 pounds 4. She is awake a lot 5. She is breastfeeding 3 times a day 6. She is 14 weeks, 1 day (37 weeks, 5 days gestation) 7. Her steroids have stopped (really this time) with no signs of stress 8. She smiles 9. She makes sounds while she is eating 10. She burps! 11. Her eyes look good and healthy 12. She has a strong heart 13. She had a good echo-cardiogram 14. She squeaks 15. She follows you with her eyes 16. She likes to "nuggle" 17. She is progressing on her O2 support 18. She is strong 19. She is really cute! 20. She has done everything they have asked her to do 21. She already has lots of friends (including you!) 22. God has amazing plans for her life 23. She has 10 toes 24. She has daddy's hairline (temporarily) 25. She is an answer to prayer 26. She
Read more