In For the Long Hall

Tomorrow marks forty-five years I've been running long distance. I ran when the medical field tried to stop me... they told me what was going to fail.. how I would die... how I would be undesirable to a man... how my knees would fail me by age thirty... my heart would fail me by age twenty-three... how I'd suffer great medical issues... My relatives, with the exception of my Mother told me running long distance would ruin my life... NO, it ruined their opinion... They lost. The medical field misdiagnosed me over thirty times... I had people criticize me even to this day for my running at odd hours, so I could work full time, yet be there for my husband and our daughters, still cook meals, work and clean our home, and care for our children. I gave up the frills of sleeping in, gladly. I gave up coffee clutches, gossip, hair appointments, fancy clothing, etc... In the end I saved us money... four years ago my husband remarked, "I'm so glad you invested in fitness and not make up, hair and nail appointments, You are my 'ivory girl'. If you can remember the old commercial... that is what he meant. I made certain as he was aging, he didn't think I noticed it. I had him race a fifty miler in celebration of his 50th birthday. It was great! Our daughters ages two and four, me with the double baby jogger and station wagon into tow, crewed him to the finish line. Being a long distance runner to me is about hope... inspiring others... gaining ground in gender equality... I have beaten men and women beating all outright in three races. Set a North American Record in my forties Yes, I'm entitled to stake my claim. 170,000 miles and counting ...through abduction/crime, fractures in legs, ribs, spine, arms, face...I've ran... Unrelenting 45 below and 130 degrees Fahrenheit... I didn't die even with birth defects. Yes, I have those. So tomorrow when my Maker grants me His good grace to arise, I'll set out to do so... because I think I can...and because I just never know the beauty I might encounter.---Jody-Lynn Reicher

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The Reicher's Official Holiday Letter

“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.” ---Ralph Waldo Emerson There are many ways to shed light on seemingly impossible situations or what we would consider obstacles to our daily living. It is not always in our daily intake and output that is the measurement of a human being. It is the grind. Some people struggle with miniscule grinds; while others have bus loads to grind through. Some don’t make it. Few do. Making it, is not, not dying. It’s progressing through even when there appears no light at the end of the tunnel. That there may not even be a twinkle of a star in the nights ahead. And the human that faces that, knowing full well that they can’t change the ending to their earthly story. Yet, they consciously go through the process, has made it. They’ve lived. No matter their age, I believe that, to be one of Life’s truths. As this year has progressed, the pandemic actually blessed us. Yep. Many would not agree with that. But then, they weren’t us. They weren’t our

To Laconia and Canada Too

He began, "So, I got this deal..." Me, "Yeah?" Norman, "I went up on 23, and saw her. " Me, "Where did you go?" Norman, "Sport Spot on 23 South. And there she was." Me, "Uh oh."😊 Norman, "I'm graduating to a BMW. She was sitting there. 1986, an R80RT. A touring sportster... " Me, "What about the Yamaha, Norm?" Norman, "I'll get a buyer before I have to pick up the R80RT." It was 1987, we'd just had a semi long motorcycle ride up North together for a week. New England that'd be. Norman was all enthralled about the open road. Married just over three years at the time, and he rediscovered a new love. Me wary, yet curious. 'Maybe she'll ride easier. Less bumpy on certain roadways of upstate New York'. Norman even had me considering getting a motorcycle license. I'd driven nearly every style, engine from small military jeep to tractor trailers...

Completion of Humanness

Completion of Humanness As we arrive to the completion of the first year without Norman, I had decided long before he'd passed that I would continue to do things certain things he liked yet could no longer do. I decided I would not take a day off of fitness. I would run at least for 500 days in a row. I began that in early 2020. I'd not be concerned with the distance I'd run. It was the very thing I convinced Norman and the thing that mattered to him, from the very first discussion we had August 11th, 1981, was fitness. I loved that he was a College Boy. He loved that I was a Marine. We tickled each other's soul with such admirations. Later fitness continued as an old discussion from 1994 ...getting outside and to run no matter what. I would say to him, "Run 200 meters, then 400 meters. If it doesn't feel good, stop. Turn around and walk back home and know you did your best. That is all you can ask of yourself." I said this, knowing he would get dow

Writing Reality

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