Some people are CRAZY...

but these guys are NUTZ!

On Thursday I got a call from a manager in the city that told me about this movie. Letha had read a RUNNER'S WORLD article about one of these guys. It sounded crazy when she told me about it, but it was nuts to watch the movie about their journey. We only saw 90 minutes of their journey...but it was awe inspiring. To see what they saw (even small portions) was amazing.

They had planned to run 80 days and averging 2 marathons a day...I have done 2 half-marathons (a year apart) and I don't want to do another one EVER. But to do 4 times the amount I did...a day for 2 and a half months? Then we you start the journey...it ends up taking an extra 31 days. They averaged a 9-10 minute mile for 4300 miles through 6 countries.

It was a very inspiring film to watch and I don't run. Letha found it a lot more inspiring and has decided that she wants to do another marathon at some point down the road.

Here's the trailer to the film:

So, have you ever...

run 26.2 miles before? Well, I know I haven't, but I am married to someone who has.

This past Sunday, November 2nd, 2008, my wife, Letha Maier, ran the ING New York City marathon.

The trip started on Friday (Halloween) when we packed up the car, loaded the dogs and drove 3 1/2 hours to NYC. We got there and hung out with McNear and his roommates (thanks for letting us stay with you guys) until about 3 in the morning. . .

Doesn't Drake look like he could use a beer?

Woke up on Saturday and then headed to The Javits Center (convention center) for Letha to pick up her number and chip. We then headed to lunch at Chevy's and then came home for an evening of relaxing.

Then comes 3:45 am on Sunday morning. We decided I would drive Letha down to the library, then park the car close to the finish line and head back for a nap. I got back to the apartment around 6 am and took the dogs to the dog park (to run off some energy). We then headed down to mile 8 of the race, to see Letha for the first of 3 visits along the course.





She came running up to us, with the biggest smile and jumped on me while giving me a huge hug. After giving her orange slices (and getting a quick kiss), she was off and we were going to mile 18 to see her for the second time.



At mile 18 we saw her again, this time we gave her a bag of mini Oreos and a flat Coke. This is where McNear jumped in the race to help her get thru the parts that were the slowest and most boring. McNear ran six miles with her and then jumped out before going into Central Park. She only had a little over 2 miles left to go on her own.

I will admit while I was watching people finish the race, I was worried. I saw so much pain in some of the runner's faces that it would have been unbearable to watch Letha in that much pain. I had seen her in such good spirits before, I was hoping for the best but expecting the worst. Then after seeing COW MAN...



(people wear some weird stuff...there were even Ghostbusters out that day), Letha came across the 26 mile mark. I could see she was in the best of sprits and I was so happy.

I haven't been proud of a whole lot of people in my life (yet). But watching Letha complete a marathon was one of the most amazing things to witness and was very inspirational. She finished almost 12 to 13 minutes faster than she was planning. I know if she would have really pushed herself she could have beaten it by 40 minutes or even an hour. But her goal was to finish...and that she did.

I love you Letha and am so proud of what you accomplished.