Our own Dr. Sasse ran in the Boston Marathon this year! Here, he shares his thoughts on the rewarding experience.
One of the amazing things about marathon racing is how much it makes one appreciate health. After about twenty miles on the road, a runner’s brain chemistry seems to conjure some positive emotions like gratitude over the good fortune and good health required simply to participate in the event. All distance runners battle the minor injuries and aches and pains that go along with years of training. But as I trudged up Heartbreak Hill this year and thought which part of my whole body was suffering the worst, I looked around with simple appreciation that I could join this herd and get to the finish line. It takes a lot of good fortune.
The most gratifying days working in healthcare are those when you get to see people that you have treated living life a little better on their terms. Treating obesity and diabetes, such a primary focus of our whole practice at Nevada Surgical, gives us a chance to see people who have not only returned to something like regular life, but actually improved their quality of life and health way above recent baseline. There are not too many things equivalent to losing one hundred pounds and reversing type 2 diabetes that make such a dramatic difference on health, longevity and quality of life.
This year at Boston was especially emotional, as it was the ten-year anniversary of the bombing that took the lives of Martin Richard, Lu Lingzi, and Krystle Campbell and injured so many more. Wonderful people all along the course cheered the runners, but many also remembered the fallen with signs and photos. It is hard not to appreciate all the first responders and medical people who ran toward the explosions that day and saved lives.
I am very appreciative of training partners and a loving spouse that make distance training possible in this busy life. I was fortunate that all the minor injuries stayed quiet enough to allow me to train all year. The privilege this year of joining others running from Hopkinton to Boston was a special one. Every day running all the familiar routes in town is special, a chance to be thankful for the good health that allows the body to keep competing. Trudging up Heartbreak Hill is special too, even if it means running in the cold rain and experiencing that relentless burning in the quadriceps that for some reason I look forward to next year.
