Though it may seem cliché...

Hola! By the time you read this, it will be Marathon Monday- the 118^th running of the Boston Marathon! I’m either waiting at the start line in Hopkinton as you read this, out somewhere on the course, or if you are one of those people who don’t catch up on blogs until later in the day, I am probably enjoying a nice meal with sore legs and a tired body. However, I’m writing this the night before filled with reflection and emotion so I thought I’d share…

I’ve done a lot of thinking over the past month- a lot of thinking about what matters in life and what we do with our precious time on this Earth. Sadly, what prompted this reflection were the deaths of two Boston Firefighters who were killed in the line of duty fighting a 9 alarm fire in Boston on March 26, 2014. http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/26/us/boston-fire/. I did not personally know either of the two firefighters who were killed but quickly started to learn more about both of them. In particular, I learned a lot more about Mike Kennedy as he was personally close to many of my fellow Crossfitters (many of whom are also Firefighters) at Crossfit Florian.

For about two weeks straight, I would read something new posted by my friends via Facebook about Mike Kennedy and the type of person he was and what he gave to the world. And from all the articles I read online and all the statuses and posts I saw on Facebook, these are some of the things about Mike Kennedy that stood out to me and that I still remember even now that the articles and postings are dwindling: he was a Marine Veteran, he was going to run in this year’s Marathon after he assisted in the response of the 2013 finish line bombings, he was involved with the Burn Foundation,  he was a Big Brother for the Big Brother Big Sisters Organization, he was a fitness enthusiast, he could make people laugh simply by photo bombing pictures with his mustache tattoo, and he really liked flowers. And what I thought to myself at the time, and am STILL thinking to myself is this: nothing stood out to me about his rank as a Marine or a firefighter (hell, I don’t even know the ranks amongst firefighters); nothing stood out to me about how much money he made, how many degrees he had, what kind of car he drove, or what his house looked like; and nothing stood out to me as far as his what his workout achievements might have been- his marathon times weren’t mentioned and nary a word about his Crossfit statistics.

 And now of course, as I am reflecting on this and you are reading this, it may seem somewhat “obvious” that rank, money, power, statistics, achievements, etc do not matter but why must it always take an unfortunate event to remind us of this? And why do we not consistently and intentionally live our lives in a way in which our daily events reflect what is most important in life? Trust me, I am just as guilty as the next person. I admit that sometimes I stress about the next promotion, my next pay raise, my next “achievement” but I’m trying less and less to do this. I’ve tried to worry less about crossing stuff off of my to-do list at work and more about really relating to those with whom I work. I’ve started to think about more ways that I can give back to the community- I’ve recently started volunteering for the American Red Cross and would love to be involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters in the near future. I’m not perfect but I’m definitely more cognizant these days.

Anyway, tomorrow I’ll be wearing a red “Dork Strong” shirt for the marathon in honor of Mike Kennedy. (Dork was his nickname). And this year while running for 26.2 miles, instead of thinking about trying to break the coveted 4 hour marathon time as I might have in years past, I’m going to be thinking about people like Mike Kennedy and all of the other amazing people in this world- the people who I think are amazing because of what they GIVE to the world not because of what they accomplish. So although it may seem cliché and although you have probably heard it from numerous motivational speakers in the past, I ask you to strive to consistently ask yourself: what are you giving to the world? How would people remember you? Would your rank, money, possessions, accomplishments, etc be something people remembered about you if you left the world today?