My application is in!

So, I've done it. I've sent my application and registration fee to Team in Training. Now, I just have to work up the nerve to tell people I'm doing it.

This isn't the first time I've trained for a marathon. It's the fifth time in fact. But this time it feels scarier somehow. Mostly, I suppose, because this one matters more than the others. This time, if I fail, I won't just be letting myself down.

As I said in my first post, one of the reasons I've taken on this challenge is to honour the memory of a former colleague, Jonathan Kenyon, who died of leukemia in December of 2007. I didn't know Jonathan well but I liked him enormously, and was saddened by his passing. He was a funny, warm, kind person, greatly liked and respected by all of us who had the pleasure of knowing with him. Aside from our work, the one thing Jon and I had in common was that we both loved running. Whenever our paths crossed in the lunchroom, we'd swap stories -- about our long runs, about recent events in which we'd participated, or about the races we'd like to run one day. It was in fact Jon who first told me I should run the Chicago Marathon.

Another very important reason for me to do this is to celebrate the fact that my old friend and roommate, Kirsi Munck, has recently survived her own battle with lymphoma. I've known Kirsi since we were teenagers. She is a warm, funny, creative and loving person who has had too much tragedy in her life, and has faced it all with tremendous courage and grace. It doesn't seem fair that she has also had to deal with cancer -- but then that's the trouble with cancer -- fairness has nothing to do with it. I'm just glad that treatments have gotten to the point where we all have reason to hope she'll be around for a long time.

I've already told Kirsi, as well as Jon's wife and parents, about my plan to run Chicago, and now I've sent off the forms. So, I guess that means I really am committed. Time to get busy working out the details of my training schedule.