marathon. Why, you ask? Because I love my daughter and I thought it would be pretty sweet to have a world record with her! And plus, the record was only 1 hour 15 minutes, which I was confident I could break. I just needed to find a flat local course. So one day, running home from church (yeah, I like to run home from church for my Sunday long run), I saw the sign for the Heroes Half Marathon in Everett for end of April…perfect!
Setting a world record
begin to hit 110-120 miles per week in preparation for my attempt at qualifying for the Olympic Trials in the marathon. I need to run 2:18:00 or faster (5:16 mile pace), and I took my first shot last October 2013 at the Chicago Marathon. After running 22 miles on pace, I fell just short of my goal due to severe calf cramping over the final 4 miles and finished in 2:19:56. I plan to take my next attempt at the Olympic Trials standard at Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, on June 21st. But in the meantime, I ran the Heroes Half Marathon again this April.
The night before the race, my wife decked out our stroller with Puffs and Cheerios hanging from string so I could One amazing twist to this story of mine keep Julia happy for over an hour of is that our second child, Miles, was born racing. She had just turned one year old just one week before the Heroes Half and loved eating constantly. Sure enough, around mile 7 of the race, Julia began to cry and she was clearly ready for the food. So, while running a 5:20 pace, I reached up and swung the container of Cheerios onto her lap. Unfortunately her hands were too cold to get anything out, so Miles recovering in the NICU. she continued Marathon this year. However, a few her desperate cry for food. I tried swinghours after he was born, it was discoving the Puffs from the other side but ran ered that his upper and lower esophagus into the same dilemma. So, thinking on weren’t connected, which would make my feet while running full steam ahead, it impossible for him to eat and survive. I quickly grabbed the Puffs and just But thanks to a compassionate God and poured them all over Julia. Julia suddena seven-year-old surgery that was perly stopped crying and seemed to enjoy formed successfully the day after he was the rest of the race, pleasantly munching born, his esophagus has been connected on Puffs. We finished in first place in a and he is doing very well. This year I world record time of 1:13:50! Although didn’t race the Heroes Half Marathon I wasn’t able to get a baby food contract pushing a baby, but I got to run while with Puffs or Cheerios, I am now proud my new baby Miles was recovering well to be a part of the PowerBar Team Elite in the NICU at Swedish Hospital. And and continue to enjoy fueling both myI was able break my course record, this self and Julia while training. time without a stroller (or baby) in a time of 1:08:14. The following week, 13 Thanks to a supportive family, I indays after his birthday, we were blessed creased my training even more in the to be able to bring Miles home. I have summer of 2013 when I realized I could a hunch that Miles will have a competisave valuable time by running to and tive nature like his Daddy, but I guess from work rather than driving. This we will just have to wait and see how the also allowed me to train twice a day and story develops for this little guy. •
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