I’ve now run one full marathon and three half marathons. If someone would have told me that I would be running just five years ago, I would have said they were crazy. The reason I would have thought that is simple, I hated to run. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, I hated it. I loved playing sports growing up like tennis, basketball and baseball, but whenever the coach wanted me to run then I was out. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t built like a runner nor did I have the mental capacity for it because running takes forever. I can’t believe how long it takes me to go only one mile much less anything longer.
So if I don’t like running, then why do I it? There are many reasons. One is that I run to raise money for the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation. Every penny goes straight to cancer research and I desperately want them to find a cure. When Payton, my wife, lost her life to atypical carcinoid cancer in 2007, I went into a funk that I hope people don’t have to go through. Hopefully raising money will help find a cure. This brings me to my second reason for running. It takes time. Payton’s sister once said she measures things in time, before Payton got sick and after, before she died and after. For me, my life was about time as well. Time that I didn’t know what to do with. Running became something for me that took up time. I still didn’t like running, but I liked that for three hours I would be somewhere listening to music and escaping my thoughts. It helped that I was slow because if I was fast, I would have been done quicker and that wasn’t my goal. My goal was to take time. 13.1 miles, no problem I have the time for that, I even want to train for that.
This last reason I simply call “the finish”. There is a sense of accomplishment, joy, relief, happiness, sadness, pain and pride all rolled into one when I cross a finish line. There’s always a push that gets me to that line, like the first year for me it was my loved ones who were there at the race. Without words, but in my thoughts they pushed me to the end. I’ve always wanted to tell people that, but I got caught up in “the finish”. All of my half marathons I have raised money for the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation and they were in Nashville at the Country Music Marathon. My only full was last December in Las Vegas. This was the only time I didn’t raise money. I took this one event and ran further than I ever thought my body would take me. I opened up avenues of emotions that I didn’t think that I had. In the end, I was in pain, I was happy, I was in tears, and couldn’t express my emotions. Maybe the lyrics of the song playing at the time could. It was a Ben Folds Five song called Magic. How that song came up after exactly five hours and twenty-five minutes of running, I’ll never know. It wasn’t planned. The lyrics are “You're the magic that holds the sky up from the ground. You're the breath that blows these cool winds 'round. Trading places with an angel now.” Payton was the push that got me to the finish and to have that play when I crossed put something into words that I simply cannot.
I ask that you simply take any money you can spare this year and donate to the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation, even if it’s only one dollar. If you are unable to donate, please think happy thoughts for The Little Team That Could as we make our way through the streets of Nashville on April 30th. And know that I’ll do everything in my power to finish the 26.2 miles and push forward as I know my will knees hurt, my right shoulder will sting, I’ll get a cramp on the right side and probably even have a little pain above my right ankle, I will push slowly on. I know what the finish brings me. I know I can make it.
-Brent
I will be running in the Country Music Marathon to raise money for cancer research through the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation. This is my most favorite time of year because I get to meet with all my friends and family and do something fun to remember those we've lost. My sister Payton was just 29 when she died of carcinoid cancer- a currently incurable form of cancer. I am now 29 years old myself, and I am struck by just how crazy crazy young that is to die. The Caring for Carcinoid Foundation does some amazing work and has made some great breakthroughs (check them out)!!
There are a hundred reasons why I could say I run. I like to stay in shape, it is cheaper than the gym, to tune out the world, to enjoy a big dinner or an extra drink at happy hour or just to feel athletic again. Those reasons, always come and go depending on the day. But one reason never changes. I run for my friend, Payton. I run to remember her. When I run, I often think of her. My fondest memory, the one that leaves me most grateful, is from the week we first met as college freshman. Little known fact, because of Payton, I am a college graduate. I have hated school since the beginning of time and college classes were no different. I missed being home with my family and making friends for the first time, without the crutch of teammates, had proven difficult. That spring, I had decided not to enroll in fall semester and was planning how to delicately disappoint my parents by telling them that college was not for me. That is, until Payton, with her larger than life heart, and spontaneous whim, invited me to go camping. We had known each other less than a week and she wanted to share a tent in the woods. Very trusting, to say the least. That weekend, I had a great time and I made friends that I hold dear to this day. It turned my year around, and those friendships are the reason I returned to school and stayed…until I graduated. On that day, I barely knew Payton, but she knew better than most, how to be a friend. For that reason, I will always run for her.
My answer to that statement has changed many times over the last five years as I’ve completed two full marathons and thee half marathons, but this year it’s simple. My motivation for running came to me while I was at my grandparent’s house for Christmas. The house was full of people, full of life. My grandfather is the nicest, wisest, and most honest man I know. He seems so happy with what he’s done in life and so very proud of each of his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He’s a man that I strive to be in life, because I know if I’m half the man he is, then I’m a pretty darn good person. My Uncle Doug was giving out CDs of sermons that he had preached throughout his life as a minister, and I thought what better way to pass on your life to your family than to pass on what you spent your life believing in. When I run, my family is in my heart and they push me. This room of life keeps me going. My grandparents’ house was so much more than a family celebrating Christmas, it was a family celebrating the life we’ve been lucky enough to have with each other. 
The primary reason I started running is that I never thought I would be able to do something like this. But the flooding sense of accomplishment today when I finish a 13.1 mile run is the same as when I ran my very first mile, finished my first 5K, and every time I reach any goal I set for myself. It’s a battle against mental hurdles that say “you can’t”, “you’re too this”, “you’re too that”, “there are more fun things you could be doing”. Now I find running not only fun, but a way for me to blow off the stress of the day and have some time for self reflection. And I also get to enjoy the health benefits of staying active!
I have never really been athletic, but I started running almost a year ago. Stress, my weight and my blood pressure were all creeping up on me, and I decided I needed to get in better shape rather than have a heart attack before I turn 50. It has been fun to challenge myself and to see that I can accomplish more than I thought I could. At the beginning I could barely go a half mile, but just this week I ran 11 miles and felt great. This will be my first ever half-marathon. I am running in this race specifically to honor my friend Payton and to help support Caring for Carcenoid so that one day we may find a cure.
