What Do You Want to Be?
Posted on 10/05/2017 by dsjohndrow
When I was a kid my friends wanted to be astronauts, cowboys and doctors. Me, I wanted candy for dinner or to be a superhero. Then I got to high school and I wanted to be a professional hockey player and rock star. I pursued both into college and left the sports behind for smoking pot and drinking beer.
Somewhere in my 20s I realized my limitations; I wasn't going ot make the NHL or play guitar for the next Pink Floyd.
Eventually, my life goals began to include family, church, and business. All that ended abruptly when I had congestive heart failure in 2011. Then I just wanted to be alive - and feel better. At 53-years-old, I remember thinking I had missed my opportunity to be much else in life.
Last week I wrote about my bucket list: To finish the 6 world major marathons.
This week I am faced with the reality of another oncology appointment. Our last two meetings have had me inching closer to surgery whose name begins with the word radical. It's one I am trying to avoid. This meeting could mean a major surgery - or it could mean I can remain on active surveillance for another 6 months.
I never wanted to grow up and have cancer.
Running marathons allows me to fight back. I didn't run any marathons in 2016. I ran five in 2015. Last week I just wanted to run Tokyo and London in 2018 and end my marathon career. Today I am pretty sure I am signing up for another marathon.
My first marathon (who you all read about in my book), was on Cape Cod.
The Cape Cod Marathon is coming up at the end of the month. I guess it could be my last for a while - maybe my last. Who knows.
As long as I can run, I feel pretty good.
I need to be positive about my life, my health, and my journey. I also need to get out there and keep living. I spent a few hours with my three siblings this past weekend. For various reasons, we haven't all been in the same room since my mother died in 2001.
Life, you get out there and you live it.
I am not really sure where my health is leading me. I do know that losing almost a 100 pounds and running have given me a life I never could have imagined. Emotionally I am healthier, physically, except for the cancer, I am still breaking records and amazing the doctors. Add to that love, faith, and hope, and I am doing just fine.
Running marathons has allowed me to go way past a lot of self-imposed limitations.
56 votes + -
16 comments:
Add Comment