Matt's Half Marathon

Matt had a conference for work in Seattle at the end of June and, for the first time, we tagged along and made an awesome family vacation out of it.

It started with Matt's turn at a half marathon, taking on the much larger Bend Oregon Pacific Crest 1/2 Marathon. It was huge with thousands of athletes coming to participate in everything from a kids triathalon (no, they don't swim in open water, just splash through a kiddie pool - it actually sounded really cute), to olympic triathalon, 1/2 or full marathon. The energy of all these people stretching themselves and pushing to do something hard was really inspiring.

Our hotel was a ways away from the race so we all trooped down together to the race before 7 a.m. Matt went off to warm up and stretch and the boys and I wandered around seeing what could hold our attention for several hours. It's always hard being on the cheering end of a long race like that - you have no idea what the person is going through and how the race is going.

I had tears in my eyes as Matt crossed the finish line, I just know the heart it takes to push yourself to run distance races and I was so proud of him (no it wasn't his first). He had an awesome time - 1:40:24, which evens out to a 7:40 minute mile! Wahoo! He finished 84th overall (out of 1400 participants!), putting him in the top 6%! He is one speedy handsome guy and I love the heart he has always put, and taught me to put, into physical endevors. (*If you don't know - I picked up running because of a cute boy in my ward at BYU named Matt who I wanted to spend more time with - a year later we ran a marathon together. He is one of my heros in the physical area. He is consistent and truly lives the word of wisdom, taking immacuelate care of his body. Matt, you are are incredible!)