Inspiration

So remember how I started this blog talking about being challenged to do something really extraordinary in 2009? Not long afterwards, I learned that my friend Leslie Nordin was doing something truly extraordinary: she was training to run the Boston Marathon blindfolded, to teach her son, who is blind, that he could accomplish anything he set his mind to. (You can read my original post about Leslie here.)

Well, I am so thrilled to report that Leslie not only finished the marathon, but she did it in four hours and 17 minutes, which many runners would love to do with their eyes wide open. And in the process, she raised an astonishing $31,000 for the Perkins School for the Blind, where her son Sawyer is a student.


At a time when words like "hero" and phrases like "you're an inspiration" get tossed around far too easily, I think what Leslie did is truly astonishing, and it fills my heart with hope and joy.

"It was simply one of the most life-affirming, uplifting and joyous experiences I've ever been a part of," reports Leslie's sister Natalie. Natalie made a little video of the day, and I'll confess that once again I teared up reading the shirts that Leslie's supporters wore.



I'm working on that New York Times piece I said I would publish this year. Really, I am.