Matt's resolution for 2015 was to run 365 miles - one mile per day - over the course of the year. He started out strong thanks to some mild weather in January and some business trips that allowed him some time on treadmills. By the end of February he was already several miles ahead of the number of days in we were, but then March came and he got hit with an awful migraine that lasted for days and days. Without any daily running, he quickly went through his surplus miles and got pretty behind which meant he was heading into the hot months having to play catch up. Then in April, he thought "Why not run a full marathon this year if I'm going to be running anyway?"
I'll be honest, I was against it from the get-go. Did you know the first person to ever run a marathon died at the end of it? Yeah, that's pretty much all I could think about. Not really worth it, ya know? But his argument was that if he was ever going to do it, then now was the time - before he got any older and while he was still in good physical shape. Bucket list and all that nonsense.
So that's how he found himself training for a full marathon mid-year. He signed up for the St. Jude marathon in December - one that he'd run the half marathon three times already. I tried not to remind him that every time he ran the half, the first words out of his mouth were, "I'm never doing that again." I just smiled and let him go about his running business, especially when he offered to push a kid or two in the stroller with him!
Matt was strong in his training (even running every day in Jamaica!) until the last couple of weeks. His longest training run was supposed to be 20 miles, but he only made it through 17 before running out of energy (literally). Of course this only made me more nervous. I tried to talk him into just doing the half again but he felt confident that the day-of adrenaline would carry him the additional miles.
The day we had all been waiting for (dreading!) finally arrived. Matt laced up his running shoes and was out the door super early in the morning. We sat at the dinner table the night before mapping out our plan of when I would try to see him with the kids. His parents were in for the big event as well so we'd be in multiple cars.
Our first spotting of our favorite runner was around mile 6. We found a great stretch of road that didn't have anyone standing on it so we could have a front row view. Turns out no one was standing there because it was just past a drink station where the runners through their cups down. We had to dodge some water and gatorade being thrown at our feet!
We had our signs and were ready for him!
