Iron Sharpens Iron

We started and ended the walk together. All twenty miles of the walk. We didn’t know it, but we would lean on and encourage each other to get to the finish line; me and those who walked with me. This is the second year I have completed the Freedom Walk to the Wall. It is twenty miles starting from the northern suburbs of Chicago, following the shores of the magnificent Lake Michigan and ending at a park near downtown. This is Friday, day one. Saturday, day two, is four more miles that begins at the top of a highway exit ramp and ends at the Middle East Conflicts Wall in Marseilles, Illinois. This year I added Monday, day three (had a day off!) and walked an additional nine miles for a total of thirty-three miles.

Why walk so many miles? Each mile was walked in honor of our fallen for Memorial Day over the holiday weekend. Saturday’s destination, The Middle East Conflicts Wall, is the only wall of it’s kind in these United States. It contains the names of every military service person killed in action in the middle east from 1967 until today. It does not include those who were KIA in Vietnam. Rightfully so, they have their own memorial wall in our nation’s capital.

As I started out on Friday, I joined forces with a group of men and women from Bears Fit in Chicago. Mark, the General Manager, is a fierce patriot, athlete and champion of encouraging others to go beyond their comfort zone. He walked with me last year and I honestly am not sure I would have completed the twenty miles without him by my side. This year Sabrina joined us. She is a personal trainer and wanted to honor our fallen as well. We engaged in conversation and quickly realized we shared a deep faith because of the adversities we have faced. She told me her story and I told her mine.

Eight years ago, she was in a terrible car accident. The jaws of life had to be used to remove her from her car. The right side of her body was severely injured. She nearly lost part of her arm and leg. She was hospitalized for a long period of time, wheel-chair confined for months and told she would never run again. She showed me the scars. She told me how she was determined to run again because they told her she couldn’t. Suffering through the pain of walking first and then learning to run, she defied the odds and hasn’t looked back. Sabrina encouraged me. When I told her my story, she said I encouraged her. She has two young daughters and couldn’t imagine losing one of them and still carry on with faith and hope. I felt the same about her story.

“It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, the ability to triumph begins with you. Always.”
- Oprah Winfrey

At about mile sixteen, Sabrina started to slow down. She wasn’t talking much and I could tell that she was in pain. She slowed her pace and Mark and I joined her. She told us to keep going and she would catch up. She slowed and caught up for a little bit until I noticed she was clenching her teeth and seemed to be holding her breath. I reminded her to breathe, she smiled, took a deep breath and confessed she was in a lot of pain. She didn’t want to stop. Her pain was not going to keep her from completing the twenty miles. We were so close!

We limped and grimaced our way to the final 100 yards where a pedestrian bridge was all that stood between us and the finish line. Mark, who claimed he was hurting too, (but hard to believe because I know he is secretly the real Terminator) joined hands with Sabrina and me as we walked those last steps together with our arms raised in victory! We joyfully hugged and high-fived. There may have been a few tears as we accepted our medals for completing the walk.

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

On day two (Saturday), I walked four more miles. Mark joined me again as did several others. Two of those people were Joe and Dan, a Marine and an Army Ranger whose years out of active duty do not reflect the intestinal fortitude they both still possess. While I walked twenty miles, they walked the full one hundred from Friday’s starting point to Saturdays starting point. They walked twenty-two hours non-stop. That story in it’s entirety is worth it’s own blog. Those two encouraged and walked beside me that morning. Because of what they had endured and accomplished, I walked with more confidence and easily reached the Middle East Conflicts Wall.

On day three, which was Monday, and really day four because I didn’t walk on Sunday, I walked nine more miles. This time I was back in Minnesota and joined a group of people walking to honor our fallen as well. The majority were walking twenty-eight miles. Because of what I had already walked, I opted for the last nine. When I got up that morning, after a day of rest, my body ached and tried to tell me I couldn’t do it. My mind disagreed and said, “GO!” I went. I went in the fifty-degree rain and got soaked from head to toe. These were the hardest miles. I wanted to quit, but I didn’t. One of the reasons I didn’t is because of those who walked three times as many miles as me. Another reason is because of my friend Pam.

Several years ago, Pam, who is an avid runner and a Navy veteran, decided to run one mile for every year of her life to honor the men and women from Minnesota who have been killed in action while actively serving in the military. Definitely a Memorial Day type of honoring, but she did it on her birthday. She did this two years in a row. Year one, she ran forty-four miles. Year two, she ran forty-five miles. If you ask her, she will remind you that she ran, then walked, ran, then walked and it wasn’t easy. The way I see it, she completed all of those miles, doesn’t matter if she walked or ran. She did it. She inspired me. She encouraged me.

“Encouragement is free and beyond measure in value.” - William DeFoore

I walked those thirty three miles to honor those who paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we enjoy in our beautiful America. They were divided and shared with other individuals whose will to honor our fallen, far outweighed any wanting to quit. We can only emulate those we were honoring because they are no longer able. I am honored to drink from the same cup of empowerment that keeps us going. I am grateful to call each of them a friend. Iron truly sharpens iron.

“As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
- Nelson Mandela