It only took three encounters with the Epiphanies on the corner of 14th and Euclid in NW Washington to get to this point.

In January 2012, I had the first meeting with them and they informed me that I need to take up running and go run a marathon. The realization came with no doubt and and some shock. The District is made up of three types of people, movers, shakers and runners. If one stays around long enough, you’ll fall in line with one or more of these camps.

Those types of realizations don’t go away and get louder and angrier if it feels ignored.  Thus, I ran one lap on the upper level of Meridian Hill Park on a cold January day and lost my breath and some of my nerve. Had it really been THAT long since I’ve been really physically active?

I’ve always been an “active” person. Walking everywhere, doing lots of events and things. I was glad to take on different labels: amiable, funny, nice, too nice of a guy, busy, career-minded but never “physically fit.” That was one label I strongly resisted. I wasn’t that guy, well, whoever that guy was, it wasn’t me.

But the epiphany wouldn’t let up and it got louder.

Go. Run. Now.

Fellow air breathers, you should know that this was in concert with a host of things happening at that time. I was deep into the HOLE and I had a minor cancer scare the previous fall. Those elements, combined with the first taste of the “Oh shit, I won’t live forever!” elixir when one hits 30, led to this desire to go running to be quite a potent demand.

With my fellow Posties, I ran the Capital Challenge in May 2012 and did well. I thought that would satisfy the Epiphanies. It didn’t, they just wanted more. With that, I went for 13.1 miles and the Rock and Roll Half-Marathon.

Throughout the training, the questions that trouble a man’s soul made their entrance. How did I get to this point? You’ve succeeded and failed, now what? How do you want to proceed?

Like most men, I didn’t have a sufficient answer. The only thing that came to mind was I’m going to run this race and persevere and I’ll see how things look on the other side.

The half-marathon was this past March and it went very well (time was 2:22:04). Again, I thought that would satisfy the Epiphanies. Instead, they met me on the corner of 14th and Euclid again with their answer: Now you know better.

Wait a second, I don’t know better! Isn’t that the point?

They just looked at me and laughed.

I kept running, then I did the Whole 30 Challenge and knew from that point that life as I understood it was going to be very different. More so, I wanted this to happen. I needed this to happen.

The third encounter happened in spring. I had wanted to take a trip to South America this fall and was trying to figure out a good time to run a marathon. Crossing Euclid onto 14th, the Epiphanies didn’t waste time with pleasantries.

“You should see if there’s a marathon in Argentina while you’re there.”

I’ve learned by this point not to back talk, so a quick google search showed that the Maraton de Buenos Aires was happening October 13 and would you look at that, that’s exactly when I was planning on being there.

Thus, here we are.

I should state upfront that my goal in doing this is pretty simple: I want to start and finish. I don’t have a time goal because this is my first marathon, so it’ll be a PR no matter what. Plus, I’m going to be enjoying the end of my marathon running down this Avenida 9 de Julio and really, that’s a wonder in and of itself. But this is the road to good air and that road is paved with health, physical, mental and spiritual. Regardless of how well I do at the marathon, the fact I can say I’m becoming physically fit is a reality I never thought I would experience and I’m very glad I am.

Hopefully, that makes the Epiphanies happy, too.