He registered online, at Active.com, just like all our other entrants….(complimentary of course), and on race day, which was actually the middle of the night for him, (he wanted to start running at exactly the same time in his world as we were in ours), DJ ran the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon.   As soon as he finished, he emailed Alan Higley from ChampionChip Minnesota, our scoring company and his results were posted on the side of our headquarters bus with all the other runners results.  I mailed him his medal and his finishers shirt, and called it a Dunn deal.

The thing that made today’s email so exciting is that DJ wanted to know when he could register for the 2010 Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon because his tour in Iraq will be over and he’s going to be here, live and in person.  I can’t wait to meet him.

To me, Lt. Dryer is another example of how the running lifestyle let’s nothing get in it’s way.  And, DJ is has shared with me how running is his escape from the horrors of war….at least for a few minutes/hours of his day.

God bless DJ and all the other men and women in uniform in harm’s way.

I was flown out to Burbank, California; chauffeured to the Hilton hotel; where I spent Saturday afternoon rehearsing, and Sunday doing the taping of a segment that is scheduled to “air” later this spring.

My hand-picked “impostors” and I didn’t do a very good job of fooling the panelists and the audience though. 3 of the 4 panelists, and the audience correctly identified me as America’s Marathon Man, so I didn’t win much money, but my wife and I and my buddies/impostors, had a lot of fun.

The impostors were coached to “always agree with each other,” no matter what either one gave as an answer. So when one of them was asked; “What did Frank Shorter do?” he answered; “He was a miler”.

The other impostor knew better, but he agreed; “He’s a miler.”

Normally the same question is not asked of all 3 contestants, but in this case, I too was then asked; “What did Frank Shorter do?”

Having signed an affidavit that I would tell the truth, I responded; “Frank Shorter won the 1972 Olympic marathon.” Too much information.

This of course was not the only question we were asked, but as we rehashed our performance over dinner later that evening, we decided that it was this particular answer that kind of gave me away.

I was just trying to impress them with my knowledge, and realized too late that saying something like; “He’s a runner,” or “He’s a marathoner,” would have still fulfilled my obligation to tell the truth, but wouldn’t have made me look like I had first hand knowledge of everything in Who’s Who in the marathon world……which is what would be expected of America’s Marathon Man.

(One rather ironic factoid here, is that of the 5 or 6 marathon runners in the world that the general populace might actually know by name, this panelist picked Frank Shorter…..who, by some scheduling quirk, just happened to be at my wedding back in 1995……Elaine and I were married at the 9 mile mark of the 1995 DisneyWorld Marathon, and actually had our picture taken with Frank Shorter and his daughter, after the race, back at the Grand Floridian Hotel.) Anyway, even though we didn’t fool the celebrity panel, or the audience, it is one of those experiences that will forever be a fond memory, and it happened because I run marathons.

My ability and desire to run has done many things for me in the last 26 years. And one of those things is that it HAS brought order, and a sense of continuity to my journey.

As the world around me changes at a breakneck speed; as I try to maintain a balance in my life; as time marches forward with little regard for the wake it leaves behind… we still run. The stock market takes a dive. March Madness begins. Political leaders change.  Dot-coms disappear… we still run. Earthquakes rearrange our landscape. Floods destroy our buildings and kill some of our brothers and sisters. Our children are threatened, even murdered in our schools… we still run.

Running is our time to be alone. Our time to consider how and what we are going to do to cope with life around us. Running brings us peace of mind. Running allows us to be successful at something. Running reminds us that we are but one person moving through this world, and that we can choose our own path.

Shakespeare said it best, in Julius Caesar: “bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible”. I don’t know about you, but when I finish a marathon, or get back from a few miles on my favorite neighborhood route, or cool down after a track workout, I can see what Shakespeare was talking about. I may not have placed in my age group, or run a PR, or even pushed myself to my limits, but what I have done is get out there and run… again. And in so doing, I have accomplished something that at one point in my life did seem “impossible.” Also, I have once again proven to myself that I AM, in fact, in charge of my life. That I DO have what it takes to call myself a runner. That I CAN count myself among those who are taking responsibility for keeping themselves fit. And that after I shower, put on my “civilian” clothes, and step back into the “real” world, I can take a sense of accomplishment with me, wherever I go. Take the knowledge that I may not be able to control the entirety of my life… but, I can still run… and to me, that says volumes about who I am, and the way I’m choosing to live my life.

I live to run, but not too fast, but even then, I’m seldom last.
I move along at my own speed never thinking of the lead.

The joy for me is just to run, and better yet, is to be done.
The finish line is just the same for runners fast and runners lame.

The prize is theirs, just past that line evoking tears, most every time.
“We’ve conquered more than twenty-six-two
you’re part of me…I’m part of you.”
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As marathon runners, we are family. We share a common experience. We have a mutual respect for one another. Some members of our family run like the wind…..and we are proud of them. Some of our brothers and sisters walk more than they run…..we are proud of them too. The elders of our clan are held in high regard for their commitment to continue on. The young in our midst are encouraged to grow and learn. Everyone in our family is a winner. Even the last one home is crowned The Slowest of the Winners…… a victor just the same. Our family has no ethnic, political or religious restrictions. We are one. We come together in the early morning with a single purpose and a common goal, and we do whatever we can to help each other finish the day with a medal.

We look at the person running next to us and we see a sister or brother, another human being……nothing more, nothing less. And as we look at them, we smile. We offer a word of encouragement. We want them to succeed. We want them to be proud of what they have accomplished that day. We run with a single purpose….to finish what we came to do. So when you come to Dunn’s Dialogue, here at AllSportRunning.com, what you are going to find is more than training tips; nutritional nuggets; race ratings; and other practical kinds of information, you will also find me expounding on how marathon training and marathon running parallels everyday life. You’ll find me talking/writing about things like commitment, self-awareness, delayed gratification, goal setting and a humble form of personal pride. Life lessons that we as marathon runners sometimes don’t ponder deeply enough…those characteristics that set us apart from non-runners. The things that make us different…in a positive way. I hope some of my musings will give you pause to think, to laugh, to applaud yourself…maybe even respond.

I invite you to make AllSportRunning your ultimate online resource for all things running related. Check out Rod’s Corner to stay in touch with what’s going on at the front of the pack, and click on Dunn’s Dialogue to find out what’s happenin’ a little further back in the pack. But whatever you want to know, you can find it right here.

Run your own race.