Charity Running: Home for Our Troops Inspires This Boston Marathoner

Joanne C.

MY ROAD TO BOSTON

No one appreciates determination, endurance and hard work quiet like a marathon runner.  We all make personal sacrifices in pursuit of a goal that many of our friends and family members may find obscure and hard to grasp.  We give up the comfort of our beds year round in the wee hours of the morning to endure endless intervals, hills, fartlek drills and long runs just to seize the opportunity to compete in and complete a marathon.

There is a quiet dignity and honor in setting a physical and psychological goal, and showing the discipline, focus and resolve to meet it.  For many marathoners, no goal is more sacrosanct than qualifying for the Boston Marathon.  I know I was elated when I first qualified to 'toe the line' in Hopkinton.

THE DOLDRUMS SET IN....AND THE PAIN

But then the lonely reality of training through the winter set in. There was many a sub-zero morning before my first Boston marathon when I hit the snooze button and rationalized a 50-mile week down to 40 or 35 miles. I found training with chapped lips, stiff muscles and icicles in my hair largely unappealing, but like many others I slogged through it (though half-heartedly at times) for the sake of becoming a Boston Marathoner.

During my first Boston Marathon, I learned first-hand that for a half-trained first-timer, the 26.2 miles are a roller coaster ride – some miles are pleasant, others harrowing, and at key points there are soul-crushing miles. 

Everyone told me about Heartbreak Hill, but not about the rolling 'lesser' hills that start around mile 17 and culminate in Heartbreak during mile 21.  On a beautiful race day in 2008, I charged downhill for 5 miles in a herd of second wave runners, sat on even splits through a fairly flat half-marathon, and contemplated suicide on mile 19.

I had made the rookie mistake everyone warns against.  I started too fast on the largely downhill early miles of the course.  My pace then slowed precipitously when I reached the uphill portion during the later miles of the race, and I was awash in self-pity at mile 20 as Heartbreak loomed before me.  That's when a wheelchair athlete draped in the American flag shouted "Thank you, ma'am!" at me as he pumped on by.

INSPIRATION FOUND ME

Clearly, I had been running an uninspired race, and it did not appear that I would find inspiration in the dread of those final miles. Until inspiration found me in that simple, joyful thank you.

"Thank you for what?"  I wondered. 

It took a moment for it to sink in, and then I realized that in honor of Patriots' Day – commemorating the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, and which is observed in Massachusetts every year on the day of the Boston Marathon – I had written "FOR OUR TROOPS" on the back of my singlet.  I was huffing and puffing away, cursing that I ever took up running, only to be thanked by a fellow Boston Marathoner and returning vet whose inability to run did not stop him from racing.

In an instant, the grateful gesture of this one man had put the spirit of Boston, running the marathon, and Patriot's Day into sharp clarity for me.  When I encountered my remaining dark moments, which the last 6.2 miles of any marathon will hold, I had the resolve to face them.

HOME FOR OUR TROOPS

Thanks to my good fortune of inspiration finding me, I have dedicated each of my subsequent Boston Marathon efforts to the charity that the wheelchair warrior who thanked me was representing – Homes for Our Troops (HFOT).  Homes for Our Troops is a not-for-profit organization that builds new homes and adapts existing homes for our severely wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

2010 Home for Our Troops Marathon Team

I am now a four-time Boston Marathoner and seven-time marathon runner, and I have found the personal goals of marathon-running for its own sake to feel hollow when compared to the efforts of HFOT and their mission.  Through my fund-raising efforts for Homes for Our Troops and interaction with its beneficiaries, I gained a deep appreciation of the determination, endurance and hard work of the veterans in the armed forces.

Travis Wood is one of the many HFOT recipient veterans.  Travis had his legs and pelvis badly damaged in several places by a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) while driving his rover in 2007. He endured 83 surgeries and the amputation of his right leg.  Yet his resolve is unflappable, including in the marathons he has undertaken despite his ordeal.  In Boston 2010, Travis finished with a scorching sub-2:30 in the handicapped division just 2 years after an explosive device very nearly took his life.



Travis Wood -- Home for Our Troops
Boston Finish Line 2010


My marathon training and fund-raising efforts have taken on new meaning through my participation on Team Homes for Our Troops.  I hope to honor, support and demonstrate my gratitude for the sacrifices of our American servicemen and women who represent all of the best qualities of a sport I have come to love.



Joanne C. Crosses Finish Line
-Boston Marathon 2010-

WHAT CAUSE SPEAKS TO YOU?

We all have causes that become important to us.  For you, it certainly need not be Home for Our Troops.  Or it could be.  Regardless, running for a cause has proven inspirational for me and I encourage every runner to consider doing likewise at least once for whatever cause speaks to you!

Joanne C.

Blogmaster’s Note.  In celebration of HFOT, Joanne C is hosting an April Fool’s Happy Hour Event.  Details are as follows:

April Fool's Happy Hour for Homes For Our Troops

When: Friday, April 1 • 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Where: O'Casey's Pub, 22 East 41st Street (between 5th and Madison near the NY Public Library)

The entire $15 cover charge will go to Homes for Our Troops. There will be drink specials and munchies (while they last :)