Running and singing for Gregor

I'm running a marathon in just over two weeks. Not the one I'm running to raise funds for TNT, but the Johnny Miles Marathon in New Glasgow on June 19th.  I registered for Johnny Miles because I thought it would be a useful warm-up for San Francisco in October. Also because I thought I might finally be ready to run 42.2 kms in less than four and a half hours - though that seems less likely than it did a few months ago. For whatever reason, I've started having issues with my right knee and lower back so am headed off to see my chiropractor tomorrow to see what he can do to help.  In the meantime, I'm breathing deeply and trying not to panic. I know from experience that minor twinges and anxiety are normal when "tapering" for a big race. In fact, I blogged about it when I was preparing to run the Around the Bay 30km race in March. (Click here to read that post.)

Focusing on other things is the key to dealing with the anxiety and, goodness knows, there's no shortage of other things to focus on. For instance, Gregor Gillis, this season's honoured teammate for Team in Training Halifax. He's an amazing little boy fighting a very nasty form of leukemia as well as an assortment of other health issues. His mom, Melanie, posted a note on Facebook today to say that he's starting chemo again.  Her message was heartbreaking. She wrote that, because he looked so happy this morning, she found it hard to look at him knowing what was about to happen. And she asked that each of us keep him in our thoughts and join her in singing (in our hearts, if nowhere else) Ooh Child - the song she sings to him (and sang to his brother Bergen who died in 2003 from a rare pulmonary condition). I, for one, will be singing it often as I train and fundraise for San Francisco in the coming weeks and months. I hope you'll join me.

Ooh Child (click on the title to hear the Five Stairsteps version of the song)

Ooh-oo child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child, things'll get brighter
Ooh-oo child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child, things'll be brighter

Some day, yeah
We'll put it together and we'll get it all done
Some day
When your head is much lighter
Some day, yeah
We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun
Some day
When the world is much brighter


Ooh-oo child, things are gonna be easier
Ooh-oo child, things'll be brighter
Ooh-oo child, things are gonna be easier
Ooh-oo child, things'll be brighter

Some day, yeah
We'll put it together and we'll get it all done
Some day
When your head is much lighter
Some day, yeah
We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun
Some day
When the world is much brighter

Some day, some day, some day
We'll get it together and we'll get it all done
Some day
When your head is much lighter
Some day, some day, some day
We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun
Some day
When the world is much brighter

Ooh-oo child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child, things'll be brighter
Ooh-oo child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child, things'll be brighter

Right now
You just wait and see how things are gonna be
Right now...