For those of you who didn't know, Jeron has been training for the Salt Lake City Half Marathon. In fact, it is what he got for Christmas. I paid his registration fee for him so that there was no question! I wanted him to know he had my full support! Well, this last Saturday was the day!
For his last few long training runs it was looking like it was going to take him about 4 hours or more. So the goal was 4. he ran into some problems earlier in the week that we figured were going to slow his time. Then he was up most of the night with a headache and throwing up. I was sure it was mostly nerves, but I was still worried. Really worried!
I had printed the map of the course and had picked two places besides the finish line to take pictures. I thought I knew what time to be to the first stop and then planed to be there a half hour before that. It being our first race we decided to leave the girls with my mom and dad and then my dad brought the girls and met us at the finish line. But I also wasn't sure the best place to park or to try to see him. I called my friend who has done this more then a few times and she helped me! I found a water station and they told me they were waiting for one more runner. Looking at what time it was I figured it was Jeron. But then the runner they were waiting for came through and it was not my husband! I wasn't sure what to think. I wasn't sure if I should be sad I'd missed him, proud he was ahead of what he thought he would be, or scared to death something had happened! The boys and I decided the best thing to do was to go to our next stop and catch him there. It was a good thing we got going when we did too! We didn't have to wait nearly as long as we thought we would! We were waiting around mile 10 and his 10 mile training run had taken him 3 hours. At about 2&1/2 hours I looked down the road and there he was!
His best friend since high school had helped him with training. He also ran the race with him. As I looked down the road and spotted them I could hear Kylan yelling at him, keeping him going! There are more pictures, but they are even worse then this one! I cried, I yelled, I even went out held his hand and ran with him. I thought my chest was going to explode I was so proud!
We went to the finish line. I found my friend who was waiting for her husband to finish the full Marathon. We were able to squeeze in with them so we could see. It was fun to see both of our husbands cross the finish line! At 3 hours and 31 min. Jeron crossed the finish line!
I am so amazed at what he did! I wish I could put into words what I saw in my boys faces. The example that he set by doing this is so much more then any words ever could. He had a blessing the night before. In the blessing he was told that he had prepared for this and he would be blessed to preform to the best of his ability. As Jeron finished, doing so much better then the goal he had, Porter turned to me and said, "It's the blessing!" It was so cute! From this I know my boys have a testimony of the priesthood and it's power.
Jeron has always told the boys that they can do anything. When things are hard, when they are really struggling with something Jeron will say, "What can you do?" and he will ask it over and over again until they say, "Anything!" back to him. So on the way back to the car Jaxon asked Jeron, "What can you do?" and asked until his dad said back to him, "Anything!" I started to cry all over again!
From the moment he said he was going to do this I would burst with pride every time I thought about it. But it was nothing compared to actually seeing him push through the pain, keep going even when it was really hard. He has already committed to a neighbor he will do it with him next year!
And the hardest part is done. Now he knows he can do it!
