Masons in Motion

Greetings Brothers,

This year Sir Winston Churchill Lodge asked me to be involved in a program called Masons in Motion. I was very happy to get involved in this group from the ground floor. Their purpose is to promote a positive life style and to help Brothers prepare and train to run a Marathon. Not just any marathon, but the Twin Cities Marathon, which many say is the most beautiful marathon in the United States. I may be little biased but I couldn’t agree more and I am very moved to be apart of this.

I have not been a “runner” per se, I have never really considered myself to be a runner, much less a marathoner. Never the less, I happily accepted the challenge to train for this event and I will tell you I put forth a great deal of effort, I had lots hours and, yes, lots of pain in the long training regimen. I had to make some lifestyle changes in order to prepare to run 26 miles. It requires a great deal of time to complete all the training runs to build up strength and endurance to complete an event like this. I would run after work or after attending lodge functions. My local police department often saw me running in the wee hours between midnight to three AM, that was the best time for me to find the time to log the training hours I needed.

I’m proud to say that I now consider myself to be Runner.

One day I was running what we call a long training day. I was entering my 18th mile when I heard a pop, and felt a sudden sharp pain in my knee. I didn’t know it then, but I had just torn my meniscus. I was in a considerable amount of pain, and I wound up hobbling home. I tried to work thru the pain and continued to train, but it was really difficult. I finally saw a series of Doctors and was given the bad news that the Twin Cities Marathon was not in my immediate future.

The Brothers of Sir Winton Churchill Lodge took my news as motivation to recruit other runners and volunteers, and l’m proud to say that we were able to not only provide marathon runners for the event, but we were also able to gather many volunteers from other Lodges to help staff one of the water stations along the route. We had a very nice representation from many lodges in the Twin Cities; Braden, Lebanon, Macalester, Hastings, Tussler-Summit, Star in the East, Wayzata, Shakopee, Lake Harriet and Cataract. It wasn’t just brothers, we also had a few wives and kids.....Total of thirty five were on hand to staff the water station with me.

The Masons and OES Women who ran the marathon should be congratulated. They are; Andy Rice, Daniel Akins, Chris Taylor, Roberto Gardiner, Peter Hulbert, Krista Benninger, Leslie Collins and Stoffel Reitsma

It was a wonderful day and the eight listed are all Champions and Victorious in their personal efforts. While I may have been personally sad that I couldn’t participate in the event in the way I wanted too, I was energized and excited to be able to support and encourage my Brothers and Sisters and all the members of our community who ran in the event and displayed a commitment to their own well being. Well done everyone.