Matt's Marathon

Sunday is a day I will soon not forget. It was such an amazing feeling to watch my husband accomplish such a great feat, running 26.2 consecutive miles. As I watched him run past me at mile 1.5'ish, my eyes swelled with tears. I was so proud of him and what he was just beginning. I held my sign high, yelled like a fool, and watched as my husband ran past me in a blaze of glory with a few thousand other nuts (did I just call him a nut?! Well I do think a marathon is kind of nutty).

My mom and my mom's sister (Aunt Tammy) met us in LaCrosse to watch the race with me. It was SO nice to have someone else with me to drive around and catch Matt along the route. It was quite different than when I sat alone in Hardees for 2 hours in California waiting for Matt to reach the finish line.

Here is part of the "Matt Crew", My mom and Tammy





Tammy & I



The three of us, Matt, and the signs I made became quite famous during the race. The first time everyone ran past us at mile 1.5'ish, people would yell "Go Matt" because they saw our signs and knew he had to be right behind them somewhere. The second time everyone saw us, around mile 2, people started to say things to us like "Wow, that Matt character has quite the cheering squad" or "I wish my name was Matt". It made us smile.

Matt at mile 1'ish, looking awesome



As the race continued and people continued to see us every few miles, runners started telling us, "Matt's right behind us, gray shirt and shaved head, right?" or "You JUST missed Matt, he's right in front of me".

I have absolutely no idea how everyone (ok, maybe not everyone, but a lot) of the runners figured out who Matt was. It's not like they were right next to him when he would run by and high-5 us. But it was pretty fun to be famous on the course and bring a few smiles to the runners.

Matt crossing the finish line


Matt and I at the finish (My shirt says "Nothing runs like a King" - off of the john deere saying, nothing runs like a deere)

Watching Matt come across the finish line was SO cool! He did such an amazing job. He got cramps around mile 17, but he continued to run and finished strong. His goal was to be 5 1/2 hours, and he came in at 5:28. Way to to Kinger! 75% of the people were doing the half marathon, so they dropped half way. By the time only the marathoners were left it was a pretty tiny group. It was nice for us because we could easily see Matt, and didn't have to sort through a large group of people. I loved that he finished alone so I could get some good pictures of just him. =)

Matt with his medal



The day after the race was a little rough. =) He wasn't the agile Matt that I am used to. He stumbled around the house, taking a step forward and then falling back. I might have giggled a few times. It was just too funny to watch this incredibly athletic guy not be able to get down our stairs. He's doing much better now, although he still swears he's not running another marathon again.

**Update: Tonight I heard him say he may train for a mini-triathlon... oh goodness!