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Running Towards the Pain - Bereaved Dad Matt on the Healing Power of Endurance Running
Manage episode 490118195 series 3563122
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My conversation today with Matt got so deep, so fast, and I think it’s because he’s worked really hard at clearing the path towards the place he holds his pain and grief around losing his son Landon. When Landon was 10.5 years old he passed away from medulloblastoma, leaving Matt with a choice to follow his grief in a bad, destructive direction, or in a powerful and healing direction.
A friend challenged him to run for 21 days to start a habit and hopefully give Matt an outlet for his grief, and so he started to run. And run, and run, and run for miles and miles. At first around his neighborhood, and then through the trails near his home. The more he would run, the more pain his body would endure, the closer he would get to feeling his grief - and to feeling his son. Running became his catharsis, and his direct path to connecting with Landon.
He pulled from all the mental endurance he learned during treatment and applied it to long distance running, and then ultra running - and then to running 140 miles to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer.
Matt documented his run and made it into a film called No Finish Line because, this isn’t a spoiler, at the end of Matt’s 140 mile run, he DNF’s which stands for Did Not Finish - because as Matt knows, and as we all know, childhood cancer doesn’t end. It’s a loud message to everyone watching that kids in treatment are up against a heck of a lot more than the physical and mental strain of running 140 miles, and his message lands.
This conversation today is really bold, really honest and has so many meaningful takeaways on processing pain, choosing the ultimate good vs the ultimate bad, our dragons, our grief, and what it’s like to live - truly live - when the biggest fear in your life happens. How does that change the trajectory of your path, how do you run it, and most importantly, how far can you go when you aren’t running from the pain, but running purposefully, and with great intention, towards it.
So, let’s dive deep, with Matt.
No Finish Line can be watched here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL6irMXCIM8
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