I stood alone on the bridge; a swift wind blowing down the
river valley cooled me off as I waited.
I cheered for the runners as they came in. Then finally, MY runner came. I caught two blurry photos of him and then
jumped in beside him.
“Run fast with me! I’m not supposed to keep up with you! Let’s go!”
We ran across the bridge and then I said I’d meet him at the finish. I had no idea how close he was to his
goal.
Matt was at the oranges table when I spotted him. He held out his wristwatch (he runs on feel,
not on a Garmin, he’s just that awesome).
3:01.45
a new PR,
a re-BQ,
1st place in his age group,
and
good enough for sixth place overall.
This was also the first marathon where he wasn’t chicked.
Not a sub-3:00, but it was still
unbelievable. This is the time it takes
some people to run a HALF and the pace I go for when I run 800s, not an entire
marathon!
Other club members came up to congratulate him on his
performance. They may have scoffed at
his idea for a redo marathon this close his finish at Boston, thinking he was a
headstrong kid and would do poorly. But with his quiet confidence and humble nature, he
showed them!! One even said, “You make
[our] club proud!”
Matt, you make
everyone who knows you proud!



6 comments:
That's just awesome.
That's amazing. Congrats to him on the PR!
ok, I may or may not have teared up a little at the end of this :)
Congrats to Matt! Well done!
Holy cow, that's crazy! I can't believe he was able to run another so close to Boston! That sub-3 is just a matter of time...
Yay, Matt! That is awesome, especially after Boston. (Plus this race looks much nicer and more relaxed. Must have been nice to run with less people and more trees, eh?)
Huge congrats to Matt :)
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