I have found myself running a race against time. I always have been, but I rarely pay attention to it.  This is a race with no free shirts, no age group awards, no timing chips. I am not even sure where the finish line is, or how much farther I need to run. I am competing against all of you, and you may not even be aware of the challenge. At times we may run full speed, at others we may walk, and yet other times we may crawl or be assisted. The finish line will come – we only need to keep moving toward it.
This race, of course, is with our own mortality.  Most of the time we are blissfully unaware of the race we are running, preferring to believe that we are nearly immortal, or at best years from our demise. Sometimes
events in our lives, with those around us, remind us of our mortality, if only for a short time. We realize how fragile life is for a moment, only to forget again with the passage of time.
I was reminded of my mortality again recently, with the sudden death of someone I knew from high school. Marty Moran was a senior when I was a freshman. I didn’t actually know Marty all that well, but he was a top runner on the Cross Country team, a topnotch student, and was very popular. All the things a nerdy freshman would want to be. In that way, he was very influential to me, although he may have never known it. His influence probably had a lot to do with my future running success, my success in school, and my growing popularity by my senior year. Although not intentional, I had modeled myself on Marty’s example.
Marty’s success continued after high school, earning degrees in engineering, running marathons, and in his career as a Nuclear Submarine engineer for the United States Navy. Marty passed away on May 22 at the age of 44; far too young, but he had run his race to the best of his ability.
Martys death can remind us that we need to make the most of each day that we are given, because we are not guaranteed a tomorrow. I know that I spend too much time focusing on the details, and not so much enjoying the ride. The race will be over soon enough.  I am hoping my time isn’t fast in the race towards the grave, but I am going to focus on taking it a mile at a time, a day at a time. That is all I can do. That is all I have ever been able to do. Some days I will run at full
speed, at others I will walk, and I may even crawl for a time, but I will keep moving forward. I will also enjoy sharing those miles with others as we help each other in the race against time.