Everyone remembers when the New York marathon was cancelled due to SuperStorm Sandy. It was on, it was off. There was a huge outcry. Runners had come from around the world to compete, and suddenly it was called off.
The St. Jude Memphis Marathon was cancelled this year due to inclement weather. I wasn’t sure how to react. I had taken off half a day on Friday to make sure I could get down into Memphis regardless of the weather conditions. We stopped and picked up an extra insulating layer to wear in the starting corrals. We bought hand-warmers to keep the fingers warm. I paid for a motel room downtown. The race wasn’t cancelled until after I’d shelled out the money, checked into the room, shopped at the Expo, etc. We were disappointed, as we’d been fundraising for months, and we’d been training. My daughter and her husband were running the marathon, while my wife and I were running the half. And after all the hard work, and extra expenses to make sure WE were ready, the race was cancelled.
This isn’t just any race–This is the St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend. You start at FedEx Forum. You run down Beale Street. You run the campus at St. Jude Children’s Hospital. You finish in AutoZone Park. You get your picture taken with Elvis. It’s hard not to get upset. But life is what you make it.
We woke up this morning, showered, and started getting ready to head back to Tipton County. As I looked out the window, it looked COLD. But it also looked inviting. I decided that since I was here, and I already had my warm (snivel) gear, that I might as well…go for a run. So, Julie and I jumped into our running gear, and went out to run.
We ran the campus at St. Jude.
We finished in AutoZone Park
We ran by the FedEx Forum, and down Beale Street.
We had our picture taken with Elvis (Elvi?)
And then, after we finished our run, we went and sat down with a bunch of other cold, crazy, runners for a “continental breakfast” (ha! there was food from Moe’s, Humdingers, Panera, and McAlister’s–not just danishes and coffee) and happened to share a table with a sweet couple from Michigan.
As we were eating, they shared their story with us. She was pregnant, and he was there to run the half. They were supporting St. Jude because of the support St. Jude had given them. They lost their daughter, on her 5th birthday, to cancer.
Suddenly, my frustration with the cancelled race seemed pretty trivial. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t really relevant at all.
MidSouth Musings 