I find myself a bit down, caught up in a few weeks of losing a few people close to me. For anyone my age, you will understand when I say I have been listening to a lot of Air Supply, need I say more? Most recently I said goodbye to a dear friend that I have said for years “ran marathons, like for fun that I do not understand”, but he did, and he ran 105 in his lifetime. Ken did lots of other things but running was his passion and he could be found each day in the early morning taking in the dawn’s early light in his running gear. At his funeral a running mate told a story of when he was trying to qualify for the Boston marathon, in which Ken had run a few times. They both entered a local marathon to get the qualifying time. Ken finished with a good time and instead of resting he ran back a few kilometres and ran beside the friend trying so hard to qualify, encouraging him, supporting him, crossing the finish again with him and they both went to Boston. I have to imagine that I would want to rest. I so admire this idea that when his race was done, he just turned himself around and added a few more kilometres to make sure a friend crossed the finish. I know that the tiny part of the world that Ken occupied will miss him terribly, his dry sense of humour and completely incongruous general grumpiness and love for all things Christmas. And now even in his early passing from aggressive cancer, I can be inspired to not only run my race to the finish, but to run beside those I want to support, may I never be “all out of love” and keep the pace he set.
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