Such a great run today. Beautiful weather. Hundreds and hundreds of other runners. Water stops everywhere. My family following me along the way to give me an extra boost every now and then. It really just couldn’t get any better.

There were some emotional times for me for sure. The first was running by the memorial for Meg Menzies – the “Soles of Love” tree of shoes at the one mile mark in Hopkinton. Meg was a Virginia runner, wife, and mother of three, who was planning to run in the Boston Marathon this year. She was struck by a car and killed just a few months ago while out on a training run.

The second was when I turned the corner to start the climb through the Newton Hills. The Newton Fire station is right after the turn, and they had a boot out to collect donations for the families of the two Boston Firefighters who died in the line of duty earlier this week. The boot was overflowing with contributions made by the runners out today.

Third was at Mile 19, at the Johnny Kelley statue. Here was the Team MR8 water stop. The entire Richard family was there, smiling, and enjoying the day. I introduced myself to Bill Richard (Martin’s father) and he introduced me to all of his family and friends as “one of their runners”. I have been running for charities for years but never have I felt a stronger connection to the cause I was running for than I did today.

At Mile 20, Mike and the kids were waiting for me. I had just one mile to go and Ryan wanted to run with me. And so we ran that last mile together. It was a bit symbolic because I had hoped to have one or both of my kids cross the finish line with me last year. And so Ryan and I “ran” that final mile hand-in-hand and we crossed the 21 Mile Finish Line together. I could not have asked for a better ending to a more perfect day.

And with that, I (finally) made it to the taper! As the marathon approaches, my fundraising total continues to climb. I am so grateful to all of you for your support and your generosity. My total amount raised so far is $6,590, and collectively the Team MR8 Boston Marathon Team (100 runners) has raised over $690K. Our team goal is $1M by Marathon Monday and I would love to see our team achieve this goal for this family! Please consider donating if you haven’t already! This is such a special, meaningful and worthy cause.

Thank you again so much for reading, and for your constant support. I appreciate it more than you know!

With much love and peace.