Endurance-Hope-Courage

This post really isn’t about me, or my training. It is about something larger.
I did my run this morning, and it went well. Then I did my first hill workout on the bike, in the pouring rain. It was a great experience, and I realize wholly why one is advised to only perform these workouts twice per week, maximum. I felt strong, and smiled as the rain tap-danced on my lips. Then I took my last final exam as an undergraduate junior, packed, and came home. I was already stressed, and then I sat down with my mother.
She told me her best friend, has breast cancer. We know very little of it now, aside from the fact, that it is malignant. After the discussion of an hour or so, I went for a “release run”. I felt good, given that this was my third workout of the day. But granted, my mind wasn’t really on running, which paradoxically, was the point of the run.
I returned from the run, sweating heavily, filled with emotion, and the need to hydrate. Upon walking inside, the daughter of my mom’s friend, a fellow runner and marathoner for Team in Training, was at the house, and we continued to discuss it.
I learned three very important details from today:

1.) No matter in what condition (physical or mental) one exhibits, they are always susceptible to certain illnesses, irrespective of age and/or health.
2.) Marathon runners possess an uncanny degree of concentration, discipline, and pain threshold. This was my friend, the daughter of the mother who has breast cancer, who displays a clear and definitive direction towards directing her three older siblings, in addressing and seeking a solution to aiding their mother.
3.) Certain things are undeniable. It is most prudent, to address these items individually, one second at a time. Multi-sport is eerily similar. It is a metaphor for life’s most puzzling problems, most daunting concerns, and the longest of days. For when one swims, they must conserve to ride. And when one rides, they must conserve to run. And when one runs, one must focus and concentrate every last ounce of intuition and energy towards completion. Runners, like myself, must learn to digress, and treat multisport as its own entity. Not merely an aggregation to marathon training.

I have begun wearing a bracelet, stating the three goals of breast cancer patients and their families: Endurance + Hope + Courage
It is my hope that together, both our families can overcome this enigma.