The Marathon

I know most people have heard this story but it was such a big moment in Adam's life I had to post it. In college Adam and I would always talk about different goals we had. We both always wanted to run a marathon. I'm kind of impulsive in my decision making and one day in December it just hit me that I had to run a marathon that year. I looked up on the internet for races in April/May within a reasonable distance. I found the Nashville Country Music Marathon in April 2005. I came home and told Adam I was going to start training for it. Adam had surgery from dislocating his shoulder around this time. I could see him start to get nervous. It would drive him crazy if I did this marathon and he didn't. Adam missed about 3 of the 15 weeks of training required and keep in mind he pretty much laid on the couch for about a month. The first big training run was 12 miles. I was really proud of myself because I got through it much easier than I had anticipated. Adam went out to do his 12 mile run on a different day. I told him not to be surprised if he had some trouble but he shrugged that off. He came home from his run and I asked him how it was. He muttered "I only did 7." I had to rub it in his face a little bit. Luckily it took him no time to get in back in running mode and we were ready to go.
At the race we entered in different corals based on our anticipated finish time. This actually worked out to be a good thing because we passed each other a couple of times along the route and gave smiles of encouragement. The last time we passed each other I was at mile 22 and Adam was at mile 25. We stopped briefly to talk and Adam bent over and said his leg was killing him. Just at that moment a 70 something year old man ran past us. Adam quickly ended the conversation because he could never live that down if this man beat him. Adam says he finished before Mr. Davey Day from Rayville, LA but I'm not so sure. When I was finishing the race, Adam and my best friend Ann were waiting at the finish line for me. Adam told me he was so proud when he saw me crossing the finish line and was so happy that I had pushed him to do this. He also said that would be his first and last marathon.
The best part was after the race. We were laughing so hard trying to walk back to the car as our legs began to stiffen up pretty quickly and each step was really painful. Once we got in the car, Adam headed straight to the Taco Bell drive through to get his steak burrito. I will never forget this experience with Adam.