Congratulations, Karen!

Surprisingly enough, I'd like to write a blog entry that's entirely about someone other than myself. I know—I'm a fascinating, witty, and gorgeous individual. But the person I'd like to dedicate this blog to is all that and more—it's my mother-in-law, Karen, who ran her first marathon this past Sunday.

All of her kids ran cross-country in high school, yet she didn't start running until years after they graduated. (For her sake, I won't divulge how many years;) It all started when she wanted to get into better shape for a trip to the Grand Canyon, so she went to a local park and walked around a path there, roughly 1 mile.

After a while, just walking got boring. But she'd never run before so she was nervous. She would walk and, once completely out of sight from the road, she would run along the back part of the path. When she came into sight of the road again, she'd walk.

Fast forward a few years and many, many miles later. She's run 5k, 10k, and half-marathon races. She's been training off and on for years, and she decided to bite the bullet and commit to a marathon. It was a big decision, and involved a lot of time, effort, and ice, but she did it.

The Towpath Marathon in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park is not a race for those who crave attention and adoring fans. Mostly it's you, some beautiful nature scenery,and the path. The path that just ... keeps ... going. Nevertheless, Karen did run the Towpath Marathon on Sunday and finished it. It's a fantastic, inspirational accomplishment, and one I'm sure that she'll repeat many times in the future. I'm looking forward to cheering you on at the New York Marathon soon.

Congratulations, Karen!!