For Russell: Wrap Your Mind Around It!

My final snippet of advice to my oldest friend in the world:

A bit of background first. Sometime in 2008 or so, Russell decided he would be a runner. He entered two half-marathons and in efforts of unguided misdirection, he finished these races in just over 2:00. He wasn't a runner in school, per se, but was a student athlete in soccer, basketball and tennis. The amazing part to his story, though, and the foundation that supports his pursuit this year is the unbelievable experience he had to overcome as a young adult to get to this very moment. The beneficiary of his philanthropic efforts this year will be the Spaulding Rehabilitation Center, where he spent a good bit of his early to mid-20s either getting his knee repaired or working diligently to recover from the damage. He still tells stories when the pain and medications got to a point where he was completely incapable of taking care of himself and had to rely on his care-giving mother to support his every need. He is probably lucky to be walking today. This coming Monday, not only is he walking, he'll be tackling his second Boston Marathon. His second ever attempt at the 26.2 mile distance.