July 3 , 2005

Mission complete! 7in7on7!

You might think the highlight of my 7in7on7 project would have been crossing the finish line at the Gold Coast marathon here in Australia with my son Grant. He finished his first marathon as I finished the last one in my effort to run around the world for the March of Dimes. But I'll tell you in minute why the truly meaningful time came a few hours later. First the race...

On January 30th I ran the Miami marathon as the first race in my quest. Linda and I arrived in Miami on Saturday and the race was Sunday morning. As I was approaching the finish line, I heard someone yell “Hey Joe!”. I looked over and saw Grant and his girlfriend Amy who had driven to Miami to surprise me - complete with handmade signs and a t-shirt touting my project - the first time I'd had a welcoming group since my previous 75 marathons had been done pretty solo. While we were having lunch after the race, I challenged Grant to run a marathon with me. He'd never run more than 6 miles before, but he said he'd think aboiut it.

A month or so later I got a call from Grant asking where he could get information on how to train for a marathon. He went online, found the. Galloway site, and started a diligent 16 week training program. He said he'd be ready for the Gold Coast marathon on July 3rd.

Even though he was training while in grad school at Dartmouth in very cold Hanover, New Hampshire, and even though he broke ribs in April playing basketball, and even though he's built more like the football player he was than the runner he was trying to become, he was ready to run when he left New Hampshire on June 27th. With cancelled and weather delayed flights, he finally arrived in Brisbane via LA and Auckland on June 30th.

I was making my own way from Mt. Kilimanjaro to Australia, via a 2 hour stopover in Niarobi and a 9 hour stopover in Dubai (where the duty free shop, which is larger than most US malls, was packed with shoppers at 2am). I finally made it to Sydney where I was supposed to meet Grant. I was met, instead, with the biggest downpour Sydney and the Gold Coast had experienced in over 100 years. It was torrential. I climbed the Sydney Harbour bridge in rain blowing sideways with 82 kph winds. It was thrilling, to say the least (and I hate heights), but it offered a great view of the city and the famed opera house.

When I heard that Grant was enroute directly to Brisbane, I went to the Sydney airport to get an earlier flight. The Gold Coast airport was closed due to flooding. I flew to Brisbane, rented a car, tried to stay away from flooded areas as I attempted to drive on the “wrong” side of the road, and after getting lost several times, finally found Grant at our hotel, which was located across from the Start/Finish line - finally a bit of good news!

We spent Friday and Saturday checking out the Gold Coast. Since 94% percent of Austalians live on the coast, its a very active, outdoor oriented culture. We went whale-watching (and saw quite a few) and explored the town and area.

On Saturday night we attended the beautiful, candle-lit pasta party set up in a tent on the water, complete with a live band. Very classy, but we left early to get ready for Sunday's race - since Grant was more than a little apprehensive. He'd run 22 miles, but could he run 26.2?

We woke early, checked the weather (sunny and 65 degrees) and left the hotel for the 6:50am start. Thirteen thousand were registered for the variety of events, with about 2,500 doing the entire marathon.

We started, and within a mile I knew something was very wrong. I've never had a groin pull in my life, but it quickly became apparent that I had one. I'd pulled up lame. If I had been a horse, they would've shot me. But Grant had worked so hard for so long, there was no way I couldn't finish this race. Plus over 500 people had made pledges, and I sure couldn't let them down (especially since some pledges were contingent upon me finishing all the races!), so I had to keep going. I've always felt you should just listen to your body when exercising - it'll tell you if you can exercise through pain or whether its serious enough to stop. I found I could keep going, with a painful crotch.....

We did the first 10k well under an hour, and were under 2 hours at the halfway mark. Like Grant said - the first hour is all about the fun and excitment, the second hour is all about the preparation carrying you along, and them the third hour begins - the start of THE TEST. This is where the head plays games with the body, but you somehow soldier through it, and thus begins THE CHALLENGE. This starts in the 4th hour. You know you're going to finish, but it hurts so bad and its sure no fun. You'd like to do a decent time, but there's also a little voice inside that's saying “The heck with time - just finish the darn race”.... I knew Grant could go faster, but the kid is such a good person that he wouldn't leave me in the dust. He kept telling me to remember why I was doing this, that it was understandable that I wasn't going to do a personal best since I'd just run the Mt. Kilimanjaro marathon 7 days before, and that the imprtant thing was that we finished together.

Which is what we did - in 4:25:58.

It was a bittersweet moment. 7in7on7 was suddenly over. But I'd run a marathon with my son, and it had demonstrated to him that exercise and a healthier lifestyle wasn't bad at all. I'd raised more money than I thought possible for the March of Dimes - an organization very dear to my heart- an organization that had solved the polio epidemic in America and then reinvented itself to address prematurity and birth defects. . I had inspired others to exercise and to think about helping others - as evidenced by the over 1,000 letters and emails I'd received. And now it was over...

We walked back to the hotel, showered, and I took a book out by the pool, and Grant headed for the hot tub. Soon he was joined by an Australian man who had run the marathon to celebrate his 50th birthday. They started trading marathon war stories. But then I heard the Australian ask Grant why he came all the way to Australia to run a race. And that's when the purpose of this whole crazy escapade became clear to me.

Grant was 3 years old when my mother died, and he really didn't know his grandmother, just some vague memories of riding on her lap in her wheelchair. It was probably kind of fun for a little boy.

But in that hot tub, Grant began telling the Australian the story of this very brave, active young woman who got polio when she was 24 years old, married just 2 years and in her 9th month of pregnancy with her first child. He told the story of the March of Dimes and how they'd paid for her rehabilitation at Warm Springs, GA. He told of how she'd gone on to live a very active, wonderful life from a wheelchair, volunteering her time for the March of Dimes because of the assistance the organization had provided our family. . And he told the Australian that was the reason his old Dad was running marathons around the world as a fundraiser for an organization that had been so helpful to our family.

Grant spent two and a half years in the Peace Corps in Mauritania, West Africa, in very primitive conditions. One of his jobs was to walk from village to village and innoculate the village children against polio using the oral vaccine.

So in a way, I guess the lessons I learned from my mother about giving back are living in the lessons I've passed along to my children. Listening to Grant talk to the man in the hot tub made me feel I'd come full circle with 7in7on7. The good lessons from generations are passed down. My other two children, Britten and Katherine, are as sensitive and caring as Grant. Perhaps the greatest gift we can leave behind are children who realize they have a duty and obligation to leave this world a little better than they found it. Its the lesson my mother taught me, and it seems to be the lesson I've passed along to my children.

Thanks to everyone who supported me and the March of Dimes in this project. You have my heartfelt thanks. Thanks to my colleagues at Cinergy who have been so patient, helpful, and supportive in what they've known is a very important quest for me.

And now its time to go home and hug my wonderful wife.