On the 1-year anniversary of when he passed, I saw there was a marathon being held here in Jacksonville. It was a marathon for breast cancer that I had been wanting to run the past 2 years for my mom and grandmother, who are both survivors. But when I saw it fell on my dad's anniversary, I knew there was no way I couldn't not run it. I was barely a runner, but it was chasing something that felt impossible that I wanted to prove WAS possible. I knew no matter what amount of pain I went through in training and the day of was nothing compared to the pain my dad endured and fought courageously until the end.
It started with running for my family, and turned into a whole t-shirt full of names I collected on my own blog of loved ones they knew that had battled with cancer. It made the experience mean so much more knowing I was running for other people around the world.
The day before the race, I picked up my number bib, and was amazed to see that my number was 998... which used to be the beginning of my dad's first cell phone back in the day. I thought that was a strange coincidence... or an ace up God's sleeve to let me know my dad would be there running with me.
The day of the race I took my iPhone and recorded video of the experience and sights and sounds. I knew I would probably never run another marathon, and I wanted to remember it as something to show my kids one day of something I did for their grandfather.
Here's the video recap of the run! I invite you to watch it and run along with me!
