The Longest Run

by David Colarusso - March 4th, 2012

A few weeks ago, I ran the farthest I’ve ever run in my life, and almost every week since, I have done the same. As you may know, I’m running the Boston Marathon for charity, but after passing the longest run milestone (as of this posting, I’m up to eighteen miles), I wanted to take a moment to share a few thoughts about what it all means to me on a personal level.

First, thank you for your support. Without it, I wouldn’t have gotten through today, and I certainly won’t make it through marathon day. There’s something to be said for an endeavor named after an event in which the first participant died. Honestly, that’s part of what attracted me, the idea that with proper preparation, even I could tackle such a grand challenge. It plays into a very human desire to control one’s fate. We want to live in a world where hard work and playing by the rules is enough to make people captains of their fate. Working to make this wish reality, humanity has struggled to transcend a million petty and superficial differences. Unfortunately, the world still isn’t fair. What keeps me running, however, is the belief that we can do something about that. Those of us lucky enough to live a life where running is recreational have the opportunity to help those who must run to survive.

When I look back on the many blessings in my life, I realize that my education is among the most precious. I was never the strongest, the fastest, or the smartest, but hard work and a quality education have given me some measure of control. It didn’t have to be that way. We hear a lot of talk about a crisis in American education, but the truth isn’t that we aren’t doing right by the nation’s children, it’s that we aren’t doing right by all of the nation’s children. If you look at those international tests people are always citing and eliminate American children living in poverty, things look very different. America’s educational crisis is one of the haves and the have nots. More than 50% of children from low-income neighborhoods start first grade up to two years behind their middle and high-income peers. When people talk about an achievement gap in America, this is where it starts. Jumpstart is a charity working to close that gap, and I am proud to be part of their marathon team.

If you’ve made a donation already, thank you. If you’ve been thinking about it, please take a minute, and do it now. Just follow this link: http://www.davidcolarusso.com/jumpstart/

Thank you again, and for those of you planning to watch the marathon, let me know where on the route to look for you by leaving a comment here: https://www.facebook.com/events/189979511100975/