And the number is.......22004

22004.Yes, that's right. That is the number I will proudly be sporting on Monday. I received my number a few weeks ago during my "funk". I didn't write about it then, but I realize with only a few days to go I need to write about my number and what it means to me.

I would like to start by saying I owe this blog post to Lindsey. Lindsey and I have a special bond -at least I think so. We are both tribe members, both have gastrointestinal issues, and both lost someone we love to cancer within the last year. Lindsey is running for her aunt who passed away about a week before my father. I saw Lindsey on the one year anniversary of her aunt's passing and did not understand how I would feel one week later. Lindsey reached out to me on the anniversary of my father's death after having only met me a few times.

When we received out numbers, she was the first person to message me. She sent me a gchat and was so pumped. Lindsey will proudly be wearing 22018. A number to celebrate our Jewish heritage.

I was in my funk when we got our numbers and I was skeptical to look. I thought there is no way I could possibly have gotten my number: and there is was looking me in the face: 4. Four has been my soccer number since high school. If I couldn't wear four, I wanted to wear a multiple of four or a number that had four in it. Something at that moment was a sign that this is what I am supposed to do.

What does four mean? There are four seasons, four directions, four elements. Four represent solidity, calmness, and home. Four is the only number in the English language for which the number of letters in its name is equal to the number itself. It is a number of grounding.

It also seems important to mention that the Marathon falls two days after Passover starts this year. Four is a significant number for Passover:
The Four Cups.
The Four Questions .
The Four Sons to be dealt with on Passover.
The Four Expressions of Redemption to be said on Passover.

And finally my favorite one: In soccer, number 4 is often assigned to a centre back and a number of luck (which is the position I player in high school).

(for more on four visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_(number)

Why I continue to wear the number four and love that number so much will remain a mystery. But as luck and fate would have it, I will be proudly sporting 22004 on Monday.