On Saturday I ran the 210th and final mile of my journey. I ran in honor of a soldier, and a hero- Captain Scott P. Pace. Scott served two tours of duty as a helicopter pilot in Iraq, where he was wounded, and then returned to serve another in Afghanistan. He was scheduled to come back to BYU as an instructor in the Army ROTC after his tour was up. On June 6, 2012 however, his helicopter was shot down by Taliban fire, killing him and his copilot. He was killed in the crash on June 6, 2012. A quick Google search will return enough articles to convince you of his character and bravery:
News Article
Obituary
His name was the only name that I focused on as I ran the Salt Lake City Marathon. I wrote it in pen on my ankle before the race and he was with me for all 26.2 miles.
.JPG)
I had more than enough time during that run to reflect on his service and thank him properly. Marathons test the physical and mental limits of endurance. They push an athlete right up to the breaking point, and then force him to cross over it. There were times when I wanted to give up and quit. Then I thought of Scott, and how he never quit when things got tough. When challenges came, he answered their call. It helped me be able to dig deep and run through the pain and fatigue. I finished strong, and with his name I ended one of the most incredible experiences that I've ever had.
.jpg)
Now I've been wondering how to finish this blog. What have I learned? Is there a central theme that I need to address? What do I want other people to take away from my experience?
Well, the answer to these questions came to me a few days ago on Easter Sunday. Easter Sunday is a pretty goofy holiday sometimes, with candy and eggs and bunnies, but the meaning of it resounds strikingly with my project. The central message is hope. Spring has come, the sun is shining, there's a bright new day ahead. Easter celebrates the day when, after one of the darkest moments of history threatened to extinguish all hope, everything was made right. Christ came triumphantly out of the grave to show men that it's more important to suffer for our principles than to abandon them. He proved that a man or woman can be stronger than the events that surround them. Light is stronger than darkness, and love is stronger than hate. The Savior showed that there is a new day ahead for everyone.
Every single one of the 210 men on my list gave their lives for something that would be seemingly meaningless without the principles that they believed in. Their ideals are what propelled them through the dark times. Some may say that idealism is useless. They might laugh and call naive those who believe so strongly in ideas like freedom, duty, right and wrong. They would point at the training accidents, the friendly fire, the butchery, the senseless deaths over a few feet of ground that compile this list and call each of them a waste and a tragedy. Well it is a tragedy. Death is always a tragedy. History is filled with the pain and suffering of millions. That's exactly why we NEED idealism. We need strong beliefs and hope to give our spirits something to tether to, something to cling on to when faced with the ugliness in the world. If we look past the bad in the world, we will find that history is filled with millions of shining moments when men and women have triumphed in spite of the worst conditions possible. If we look for the good and remember those shining moments, we will find the strength to triumph in suffering as well.
I'm not a writer, I'm not a professional blogger, and I'm not a philosopher, but I hope I can express in my own rudimentary way the power of this project. I hope that those who read this will be inspired in their own challenges. I hope that they will see the causes that are calling for them and rise up to answer. Look back on the examples of these men, those who gave all. If we forget about them, we lose our precious heritage, something that can be a real, tangible force in our lives. Remember them.
I ran to remember, and I will never forget.
News Article
Obituary
His name was the only name that I focused on as I ran the Salt Lake City Marathon. I wrote it in pen on my ankle before the race and he was with me for all 26.2 miles.
I had more than enough time during that run to reflect on his service and thank him properly. Marathons test the physical and mental limits of endurance. They push an athlete right up to the breaking point, and then force him to cross over it. There were times when I wanted to give up and quit. Then I thought of Scott, and how he never quit when things got tough. When challenges came, he answered their call. It helped me be able to dig deep and run through the pain and fatigue. I finished strong, and with his name I ended one of the most incredible experiences that I've ever had.
Now I've been wondering how to finish this blog. What have I learned? Is there a central theme that I need to address? What do I want other people to take away from my experience?
Well, the answer to these questions came to me a few days ago on Easter Sunday. Easter Sunday is a pretty goofy holiday sometimes, with candy and eggs and bunnies, but the meaning of it resounds strikingly with my project. The central message is hope. Spring has come, the sun is shining, there's a bright new day ahead. Easter celebrates the day when, after one of the darkest moments of history threatened to extinguish all hope, everything was made right. Christ came triumphantly out of the grave to show men that it's more important to suffer for our principles than to abandon them. He proved that a man or woman can be stronger than the events that surround them. Light is stronger than darkness, and love is stronger than hate. The Savior showed that there is a new day ahead for everyone.
Every single one of the 210 men on my list gave their lives for something that would be seemingly meaningless without the principles that they believed in. Their ideals are what propelled them through the dark times. Some may say that idealism is useless. They might laugh and call naive those who believe so strongly in ideas like freedom, duty, right and wrong. They would point at the training accidents, the friendly fire, the butchery, the senseless deaths over a few feet of ground that compile this list and call each of them a waste and a tragedy. Well it is a tragedy. Death is always a tragedy. History is filled with the pain and suffering of millions. That's exactly why we NEED idealism. We need strong beliefs and hope to give our spirits something to tether to, something to cling on to when faced with the ugliness in the world. If we look past the bad in the world, we will find that history is filled with millions of shining moments when men and women have triumphed in spite of the worst conditions possible. If we look for the good and remember those shining moments, we will find the strength to triumph in suffering as well.
I'm not a writer, I'm not a professional blogger, and I'm not a philosopher, but I hope I can express in my own rudimentary way the power of this project. I hope that those who read this will be inspired in their own challenges. I hope that they will see the causes that are calling for them and rise up to answer. Look back on the examples of these men, those who gave all. If we forget about them, we lose our precious heritage, something that can be a real, tangible force in our lives. Remember them.
I ran to remember, and I will never forget.
