As many of you know, I was blessed enough to have served for a time with some of the men and women dedicated to a cause, the protection of a Nation, her freedoms, and the people under her flag. Men and women who embrace those Core Values and Esprit de Corps, in the United States Marine Corps.
Prior to my injury, I had on my bucket list to run Marine Corps Marathon, but unfortunately, my paralyzing accident derailed that opportunity… or so I believed. A few weeks ago, I reached out to a brother of mine, a highly respected ultra-runner and I asked if he would run it in my stead. Without hesitation he texted back “yes, but can I call you?” While on the phone, he said that my request had really hit him hard and he had a different proposal … “What if I push you through the marathon, so we can share this experience together?” Whoo…
This friend, Cameron Dorn, has set multiple Guinness World Records, has completed The Boston Marathon 9 years consecutively in less than 3 hrs, attained countless high altitude summits, biked the entire Pacific Coast Highway, completed countless triathlons, and travels the world assessing the health of mega companies. He just volunteered to be the human motor attached to a chariot that would propel me through one of my life long dreams!
I’m blown away but extremely motivated! Before we got off the phone, hotel rooms were booked, an email sent to The Marine Corps Marathon Association seeking team/sign up clarification, and a cursory plan in place for the logistics of making this a competitive reality.
So this is the first blog in a series as this trek is going to take us all the way into October when we “run” the Marine Corps Marathon together. I can’t wait to begin sharing all the details with you and will begin that process in the next blog. For anyone wanting to assist in sponsoring this team, please reach out. We feel this is a great platform to talk about advocacy, inclusion, reaching dreams after injury, and so many other aspects. Please take this journey with us from today until we cross the finish line in October. It’s going to be a wild ride!
