Friday, April 22, 2005

I'm Not Worthy ...

My colleague Tom and I ran the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 18, 2005. This was his first time and my sixth. Tom's wife and kids also made the journey to Boston and they had a great time sightseeing.

Tom is, and always has been, an excellent and dedicated distance runner. He is also as old as me (45). Were it not for our friendly rivalry, I probably would have given up marathoning a long time ago. And had he not been there on Monday, I would not have done as well as I did.

We started the race side by side, way up front in the first corral amongst the world's elite marathon runners. That in and of itself is a huge accomplishment for people our age. Although our results differed by a mere 16 minutes, the accomplishment was the same. After the race, he sent me the following message. I think I owe him the graditude, not the other way around. Tom, thanks for the inspiration.

From: XXXXX, Tom
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2005 8:25 AM
To: Trost, Chris
Subject: RE: Boston Splits

Thanks Chris. We all had a blast. As humbling as the run was, it was great. You are my hero. I cannot see how you could maintain your pace the entire race. Very gutsy performance. Thanks for the magnet too.

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