Sam's First Marathon

Sam just completed his first marathon. His goal was 3:30 which equates to 8:00 minute pace. As a freshman in high school his goal was to break 8 minutes for one mile. Sunday his was trying to do that for 26.2 miles. Kourt helped with coaching and planning. Brandon had a recruiting trip that allowed him to be in town so the three is us were able to be be Sam’s support team.

Sam and I got to the course bright and early on a very cold, rainy morning. Pretty soon Kourt and Bran we’re calling to see where we were. Big races can be chaos to try and meet. I dropped Sam with the things he needed and Kourt and Bran met him at the starting line to grab his warmups and give him last minute encouragement.

My job was simply to get to mile 8 and 16 to hand him GU for energy. I took off to find my way through blocked roads and detours.

I was able to get close to the 8 mile marker but the volunteers weren’t sure what mile marks they were volunteering at.

I settle in at a very cold spot and waited while Kourt and Bran called to complain about the same issue.

I went online to track Sam but the online tracking was down so I stood at the imaginary 8 mile mark and waited. I was afraid I’d somehow missed Sam and anxiously squinted to see if I could recognize his stride. The group running 3:20 passed. Then the group running 3:30 passed. Next the group running 3:40 passed and I was sure I had missed him. Suddenly, I saw this tall, strong, smooth runner and I started screaming his name and encouragement. I ripped open the GU packet and handed it to him as he threw his baseball cap to the ground.

It seemed that he was way off pace.

Kourt, Bran and I connected by phone and decided to meet at the 16 mile mark. They took an Uber and I drove. Fortunately they was a discount liquor store right at 16 miles. I bought some beer, used their bathroom and waited for Kourt and Bran to arrive. Once they arrived we started the Sammy count down. We saw the the 3:30 group pass and then the 3:40 group. Like the supportive, sarcastic dad I am I looked and Bran and Kourt and said, “ Should we call an Uber for Sam?”

Quickly, Sam appeared in the distance and again we all started screaming encouragement. As I stood with his GU in my hand another runner tried to take it. After letting him know I wasn’t an official I handed the GU to Sam. Then Kourt, Bran and I jumped in the car to get to the next spot.

As coaches Kourt and Bran were concerned with Sam’s pace.

We were able to weave through back roads to somewhere around 20
miles. Kourt ran a half mile or so and reported that he was strong and doing great. With his slow early pace we were estimating 3:32 to 3:33.

At the next stop about 2 miles down the road Sam had moved up significantly again. We all yelled encouragement and this time Kourt jumped in to run with him.

Brandon and I got caught in traffic at a stop sign and kept checking in the rear view mirror to find Sam and Kourt. Suddenly, there they were. Sam’s face was focused and he was running faster than he had the entire race. As I like to say “he was cranking along”.

Kourt jumped in the car with us. She was excited as she explained that he was “fucking killing it” and that he wanted to focus on his own for the last 2 miles.

At this point we knew he had a shot at breaking 3:30.

We screamed our last words of encouragement and then slowly worked our way through traffic. I dropped off Bran and Kourt, parked the car and hurried to the finish line.

Kourt and I found a cold, shivering, exhausted Sam and immediately asked him what his time was. He slowly lifted his arm and pointed to his Garmin...3:29:50! Of course Kourt and I exploded with congratulations and Bran arrived a couple minutes later to join the celebration.

Sam reach his goal with the help of love, support and encouragement but the real story is his personal odyssey to change his physicality and be fit and healthy. Within the race itself he knew how his body and mental process would work best in his race approach, even when two college coaches and his dad doubted it. When he needed to focus the most he was able the reach within and find more. That’s called grit.

He has a wonderful story to tell of the overweight teenager trying to run 1 mile in 8 minutes who can now run 26 in a row.

Congrats to you Sam. You inspire me every day.

As a writer it is time for you to tell your own story and help inspire others.