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May
24, 2004
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After
over three weeks away on TREK USA, Paul
McGovern is welcomed home by his
daughter Peyton and son Paul.
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Hopkinton,
MA - No
member of team TREK USA actually lives in the
beautiful town of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, but
when we arrived at the Green in the center of
town, we were home.
The local police escorted us in, and
there was a crowd of familiar faces waiting at
the bandstand.
We are home.
Those
that have run the Boston Marathon have seen the
sign that reads, ?It All Starts Here?.
Today, ?It All Finished Here?.
Though we have yet to run the marathon
course tomorrow, we are home.
Tomorrow is the victory lap.
Today was the day for hugs.
Team mates hugged (the heck with that
macho stuff), friends hugged, and family members
hugged the most.
It was difficult to not get misty eyed
when we saw the expression on the faces of Paul
McGovern?s two children as our RV rolled into
the parking lot.
Their hugs were the longest of the day.
Our
assignment for today was simple ? 122 miles
from Great Barrington, through Springfield, and
finally to Hopkinton.
The early morning legs were mostly on
rural roads that rolled through the back roads
of Massachusetts.
Later in the day we ran through the
streets of the third largest city in the state.
Again, with the help of David
D?Arcangelo, we dodged the thunderstorms that
ripped through Springfield with just a twenty
minute delay.
So that was the lay of the land, but that
wasn?t the real deal.
The
run today was really about the transition from
wandering runners absorbing as much of what this
country has to offer as we can, to once again
assuming the positions in life that we left
nearly a month ago.
No longer will we worry about the
terrain. No longer will we wonder what strange sights we?ll see.
We won?t have to pack our bags every
day. Food
will be home cooked around a dinner table with
the faces of our loved ones.
There were mixed emotions today - relief
and disappointment.
It needed to be finished, but we would
love to continue accumulating the knowledge that
travel at 8mph (OK, sometimes 7mph) can bring.
While
we have been congratulated for our sacrifice, we
have gained more than we have paid.
The miles we ran tested our strength, and
the difficult living conditions tested our
resolve. At
the same time we enjoyed nearly a month to
reflect upon all that is right with our country. It has a vastness that can?t be appreciated at 35,000 feet
from an airplane.
From that altitude it is impossible to
take a close look at the fabric that is the
United States.
We saw wildlife up close ? occasionally
closer than comfort would have allowed - we
smelled the sweet scent of newly budding
flowers, and the pungent odor of newly
fertilized fields.
We met folks from every walk of life ?
from cowboy to farmer ? with a variety of
accents. The
common theme was the incredible kindnesses we
experienced on country roads and cities, alike.
We were fortunate to be able to extract
ourselves from the ?real world? for nearly a
month. There
is incredible strife in the world right now, but
we didn?t have the time to keep up with the
news. We
were too busy going slow and steady.
Perhaps
one of our greatest rewards was the knowledge
that we may have motivated some people to do
more with their lives.
One of our goals was to be good examples
for the school kids and get them to be more
active. According
to many of the emails we have received, we may
have encouraged a few adults as well.
Of
course, the real reason we initiated this
transcontinental relay was to raise money for
five charities dedicated to helping children ?
The Jimmy Fund, The Red Auerbach Youth
Foundation, The Cam Neely House, The Doug Flutie
Foundation for Autism, and The DMSE Foundation.
We are amazed at the response we have
seen. We
believe we are now above $300,000 in donations. Contributions have come from friends, family, and strangers.
Additionally our sponsors deserve
congratulations, especially Pepsi, Nike,
American Airlines, Bitpipe, Fleet, and Verizon.
Perhaps
the sign at Hopkinton Green is, in fact,
correct.
Maybe ?It All Starts Here? is correct
for the team members of TREK USA.
None of us are the same folks that
started the journey a month ago.
We?ve experienced much, and it has
helped us be better.
But what will it mean in the future?
It is simply too big, too important an
experience to simply be a story to tell our
grandchildren (though we will bore them to tears
with tales from ?I remember when?..?).
Now we are doers.
On my final leg, I ran past a church that
gave the title of this week?s sermon ?
?Where do we go from here??
Where, indeed.
PS
If there are any ideas, comments or
questions about the journal, send me a note:
Tom
@TREKUSA.org
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