The Day I Jumped Off the Stage and Into the Race
What happens when the person who spends hours lifting everyone else up decides to find out whether he can lift himself up too? There is a moment I return to often. It is 5:28 AM. The half marathon wave is two minutes from flag off. I am on stage, microphone in hand, doing what I have been doing since 3:30 in the morning - holding the crowd, managing the energy, making thousands of people feel ready for what they are about to do. And then I hand the mic to my stage coordinator, step to the edge of the stage, and jump down into the crowd. I pin on my bib. Lace up my shoes. And join the runners. Some of them look at me. Then look again. A few are astonished. Some recognise me and cannot quite believe what they are seeing. And somewhere behind me, as I cross the start line, the organising team sends me off with a huge round of cheers. How this decision came to be I had originally planned to run the full marathon that day. When I took up the anchoring role for the NMDC Hyde...
