To Our Readers

Mary Trammell

The apartment I lived in a few years ago over looked the home stretch of the Boston Marathon. Each April, it was high drama watching thousands of runners race, jog, lumber—or in some cases, stagger—toward the finish line all afternoon, and well into the evening, of the grueling 26-mile race.

Mostly, I remember the whooping, hollering cheers every time a runner made it across the finish line. Then family, friends, and supporters would huddle around the triumphant runner—with hugs, towels, and special shiny blankets.

Some of the competitors who generated the most excitement crossed the line late in the day. First-time entrants, for instance, for whom running the Marathon was the fulfillment of a lifetime dream. Valiant wheelchair entrants. And two-time Marathon winner Johnny Kelley, running his fifty-eighth Marathon. He first won the Marathon in 1935. Runner's World magazine named Kelley "Runner of the Century" in 1999.

What gives a runner this kind of drive? Training? Experience? Strategizing? Probably all of these. But some might say there's something more. Something intangible. Maybe even something spiritual—an endowment from God Himself.

With the launch of the new TV series "Survivor II" this week—featuring 16 "survivors" battling each other, along with the adversities of the Australian outback—cover story writer Channing Walker asks a similar question: What really makes a survivor? And some World War I survivors point him toward answers you won't want to miss.

Mary Trammell Editor

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