Growing up, I remember watching Monday Night Football and hearing Howard Cosell taking about the “frozen tundra” as a way to describe the winter weather playing conditions in Green Bay and Minneapolis.
Fast forward to the Sangre de Cristo mountains and the Santa Fe Snowshoe Classic. A race I decided to try for the ”fun” of it. Let it be said, there is not much fun about running in snowshoes. Walking, yes.
The course was a four-mile loop. Coupled with the fact that this was the first time to wear snow shoes, it quickly became a $#!@ show! Forget that I didn’t size the snowshoes appropriately or that it was at a higher altitude than I was use to or that I could have finished the race faster in my boots. It was one for the memory, distant memory.
About a mile into this SNOW show, my mind was racing faster than I was walking. And my high school friend Mark crossed my mind. I remember seeing a recent Facebook post that he was starting radiation treatment for prostate cancer.
Interesting how my trivial issues quickly take a back seat to reality and the stress of life being faced by a high school friend. Four miles in snowshoes is nothing compared to what he is in the midst of with radiation.
At the halfway point, I found a surprisingly strong signal for my mobile phone and posted a video to my high school friend to let him know that I was running the race for him.
Another video was posted at the end of the race
The miracle among miracles, I placed for my age group meaning a medal was awarded and summarily sent to my friend Mark. After the race he shared “Outlook is good and if I continue to do what I am being instructed I should be good to go for many more years to go. Yes, side affects can happen and I may face some later in the treatment stage but so far so good.”
He completed all 31 treatments and is doing well today.
