An Open Letter to My Crazies

As you can tell, I believe in the power of words.  Oftentimes, my verbal delivery doesn't quite pack enough emotion or truth in what I write.  It's easier for me to take the time, put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to share my thoughts.  Letters, for me, go way back.  I had a few pen pals when I was younger, from Girl Scout coordinated pairings or new friendships established during a family vacation.  I was the honored recipient of a few beautiful letters — two, that I recall, from my Dad and one from my fiancé (the night before our wedding).  In the day of computers, we've gotten away from this level of personal interaction, but on the other hand, we've been given a stage to proclaim our message to the masses.  Today, I will do just that.
In my adult life I have never been supported by so many crazy women glued together by one thing — running.  As our relationships developed, we discovered a lot more commonalities with our parenting, worldly views, and the solace in good running clothes. Our time together, ordinarily running, brought out raw emotions — the ideal situation for bonding.  We learned our likes and dislikes; our adult beverages of choice and dietary pickiness.  We commiserated over a shitty hill and rejoiced in seeing each other accomplish wonderful feats of fitness.  We symbolically ran arm in arm through months of training runs - long and short; good and bad.
In one week, I will be running the New York City Marathon.  I trained more (and smarter) than I ever have in my life.  I am confident in myself that I could have done this on my own; however, I would not have made it this far with as much grace - I share this experience with you.  I'll be running the race with 50,000 people in the running community, but I'll be physically on my own.  Mentally and emotionally, you ladies will be on my mind and in my heart.
Thank you for believing in me.