This man is a flat-out inspiration. Last fall, after training while on deployment, he came home and ran back-to-back half-marathons. He wanted to qualify for Half Fanatics, and one of the ways to do it was running a half on two consecutive days. He searched for races and found two in Oregon that would work. We booked hotel rooms, loaded up the girls and headed out on a road trip.
His first race was the Columbia River Power Half-Marathon in Umatilla on Saturday. The course was kind of neat, crossing the McNary Dam on the Columbia River so that he got to run across the dam and into Washington before crossing back into Oregon. The girls and I met him at the finish line with cheers of, "Go, Daddy, Go!!!" After he'd showered, we loaded up again and headed west along the Columbia River to the next race. The drive along the river was beautiful. The fall scenery was gorgeous and that alone would have made the trip worthwhile.
The final stop of the weekend was in Hood River for the Columbia River Gorge Half-Marathon on Sunday. We loved the quaint little historic town of Hood River, and we stayed at a nice hotel right on the water. We had the most amazing river views right from our balcony. On Sunday morning Jay ran his second half. He had another great race and we were so proud of him. Two half-marathons in one weekend! Needless to say, he was pretty tired for the drive back home to Washington...
A wave for the fans
Perhaps the most amazing (crazy) part of this whole running weekend was that he ran both races on his torn ACL. He was scheduled for knee surgery the coming week, and knew it was going to be awhile before he was back running. But he did it! Powered through and met his Half Fanatics goal just like he wanted to. I took him to the hospital for reconstructive knee surgery two days later, and his Half Fanatics shirt and bumper sticker arrived in the mail shortly thereafter while he was recuperating on the couch. I told you this man was an inspiration. The recovery has gone remarkably well, and I know there are many more races in his future. Next up, he's looking at doing full marathons and ultras. Let the running adventures begin!
