My dear lovely Margo,

I am back. I must admit. I have been in a hole lately. Life sometime has a way to
kick you in the gut and kick you again when you are on your knees. It happens to all of us eventually. It happened to you early, too early. It is an understatement to say that life has not been kind to you lately. There is no need to talk about the why or the fairness of it. It is what it is and the only thing you can do is fight for what is yours, fight for your life.

Last year, I ran the Paris Marathon for you. You were with me all the way and especially during the hardest moments. I broke the 2h45 barrier that had eluded me for so long. I had never run that far that fast in my life. The “Go Margo” of the crowd helped me keep pushing although I knew I was in trouble. In the end, I broke 2h45 by just 7 little seconds.

You know that I am not the kind of person who jumps up and down in joy. I must say though that I was happy and proud. I knew you were on the finish line and I was committed to reaching my goal for you. I could not have let you down. There was always that little door in my head. The one you want to open when things get too hard. The one that would make everything stops. The one written “give up” on it. I managed to keep it closed although I was still fighting for seconds after hours of effort. You helped me keep this door closed and you helped me succeed.

The Paris Marathon is only 2 months away. This year again I will be “Running For Margo”. I am still recovering from an ankle injury and can barely run 1 hour for now. I am in the worst shape I have been in years but I will do it. I will run with your father and I will try to stay with him as long as I can.  This will be in preparation for my next event. I have 4 months to get in shape for Nice Ironman.  I don’t know yet how I am going to pull this one out but I will. This is something I must do in esteem to your courage fighting cancer.

GO MARGO

Pascal,