Sunday Mass at the Boston Marathon

Twin Cities Marathon Elite Recruiter Rick Trueman -- a fellow I had the pleasure of coaching at St. John's back in the late-1980s -- describes one of his favorite Boston Marathon rituals.

Over the years, one my personal highlights from the Boston Marathon weekend, is the 11 a.m. Marathon Mass at Our Lady of Victories church in downtown Boston. I love the name, Our Lady of Victories. It sounds like I'm at the right place.

This is one of first churches in Boston founded by the French settlers. I have talked about this tradition with my own circle of running buddies that by the time I arrived, our group had already filled two pews. We even had a couple of Jewish friends who attended simply because of the connection between running, life, and their own spirituality.

I went over to the elite hotel and recruited a couple of athletes to join me for the service. Within my group was Mary Akor, Zoila Gomez, and Jenny Crain, or in the recruiting world, known as #2, #3 and #6 from TCM '06. They immediately knew what to do. They blew by my friends who were seated near the back of the church and went to the front.

Before mass, Mary Akor was off to the side, lighting a prayer candle and spending a few minutes to herself. After mass, Jenny Crain asked me for $2 so she could walk over and do the same thing. (I never did get my $2 back.)

As the mass went on, chills were running up and down our spines and tears were welling up in our eyes. At the beginning of mass, we were reminded that running and celebrating mass are similar in the sense that not every workout can be run at full speed. Every now and then, you need to pause, reflect, and slow it down, simply because its the healthiest thing to do.

The Gospel reading was the story about Doubting Thomas, so the entire homily connected our own doubts about running, (the weather tomorrow), life ever after, and believing in yourself. At the end of mass, they asked all of the runners to come up to the alter for a final blessing. They all assembled as the theme from "Chariots of Fire" played from the organ in the balcony. By the end of the blessing, you are ready to run a marathon right now. It really is a special feeling.

When most of us think of elites, we think they are bullet-proof. What I found were people who trusted me on the service and were genuinely touched by what was going on. There really is a spiritual connection between running, racing and life, and it runs through all of us no matter how fast or slow you are.