My Fundraising Page - Don't Dream it, be it'

My Fundraising Page

As a kid, I used to sleep with the TV on. It's a bad habit that has followed me into adulthood. One spring morning, I have a dream of lining up at the Boston Marathon. I wake up and the start was being televised. I watch all those runners and thought how cool that would be. I say, "One day, I want to run the marathon."

Twenty years later, I live in South Boston. It is Sunday morning before the big parade. I'm awake and getting my tiny apartment ready for my parade party. I'm running across the street to get ice and there is a race going on. People are cheering those runners on. I'm overweight and have only run to catch a bus or train. I watch those runners and think they are pretty cool - and I'm a little envious.

Ten years later, it's pouring outside. The rain is coming from every angle. I'm standing in a girls and boys club trying to stay dry. We get called outside to line up. This is my first race. I'm back in South Boston and I'm about to run the very race I watched ten years before. It's miserable and that would be every reason not to run. But I will run it anyways. The weather has kept my husband from bringing my 18 month old out to watch my first race - but I still run. I'm not first, but I'm not last. I run past my old bars, my old apartments and a very few spectators. I'm soaked to the bone at the end and my long hair is one big knot. But I'm hooked.

I go on to register for a 10K, then a half marathon. I sign up for a triathlon, then swimming lessons. I beat my 5K personal record. I beat my half marathon record. I run mile by mile closer to the goal - The Boston Marathon.

On Friday, I get the phone call from Team in Training. Congratulations, you are on our team. You will be running the Boston Marathon." It took me 30 years to get to that starting line.

As the wise Frankenfurter sings, "Don't dream it, be it."