I was supposed to be running my 13th marathon today.

Instead, I volunteered for my 1st marathon.

And volunteering for Twin Cities Marathon  was a great experience.  Every marathon runner should have to volunteer for a marathon.  It gives you a different perspective.  Not just on the magnitude of planning and detail that goes in to a marathon – because I do think that most marathon runners already know and appreciate that.  The word that I’d used to describe how volunteering for Twin Cities Marathon made me feel is connected.  I felt connected to complete strangers who had just finished their first major race.  I felt connected to my fellow volunteers, who told me their stories of who they were supporting/watching today in the marathon (one lady’s daughter was from Omaha and running her first marathon with her boyfriend, with a goal of under 5:00 – I looked her up, 4:58!  Woot!).  I felt connected to my fellow running friends, who stopped by the finish line info booth that I was staffing and chatted with me about their races.  I felt connected to my past – today I saw runners finish their first marathon, saw runners BQ and saw runners limping down the last stretch of John Ireland Blvd toward the finish line with tears in their eyes – and for all of these people, I thought “been there, done that”.  And this feeling of connection to the running community was SO necessary for me – on Day 91 of no running because of my stress fracture.

Lucky marathon #13 will come soon enough.  And in the meantime, participating in the marathon in the way that I did today gave me the inspiration, motivation and hope that I needed to continue to heal.