St. Goerge Marathon 2011, pushing Mom

Several years ago my brother, sister-in-law and I were running. I know, wow, we were running. Anyway, my brother got the idea to push our mom from start to finish in the St. George Marathon. He wanted to get all of our siblings together to do this. I loved the idea and we moved forward in putting this idea into motion. I have six siblings and not all of them are runners but we figured that if we gave everyone enough time, they could all be ready. Sadly, I figured someone would probably be pregnant so not everyone could do this. When it came time to sign up for the marthon, not everyone was on board but we did have my brother, two sisters, my sister-in-law, and me. We contacted the marathon and asked for permission then set to work looking for a chair to push her in. It required much dedication and some pestering, but we got permission to push my mom. My grandma found us a sponsor and my sister found the chair. My Team Triumph is an amazing organization that sets "captains" (physically disabled people) up with chairs and "angels" (able bodied runner). They set us up with a chair and Robert J. DeVry sponsored the shipment of the chair.

We got the chair about a week before the marathon. Two days before the marathon we went for a run pushing my mom. We didn't get her centered in the chair and the chair pulled to the side all 5 miles. After that run, I was really worried about the marathon. I should probably mention that this was one sister's very first marathon. Race morning the weather was a little warmer than we had hope for. My mom has MS, which is why she is wheelchair bound and she cannot sweat. If she gets too hot, she just melts and it takes hours to cool her back down and it just wipes her out for the rest of the day. The beginning of the marathon is always kind of crazy. It takes a few miles to find your place where you are pacing the same as the people around you. With that running wheelchair, it was a little crazier. That was the most incredible marathon I have ever run. We would pass people or people would pass us and they always had a comment. So many people were inspired and thought what we were doing was so amazing. My mom's reaction was the best. If she was able, I know she would have run a marathon with us. We were simply able to do for her what she couldn't do. She has seen the marathon from a helicopter and loved that experience but right in the thick of the running crowd is an entirely different experience. 

Because of the weather, we had to leave the sister who was running her first marathon. After we got Mom to the finish line, my brother, sister and I went back for the other sister. We had shirts made up for us because we wanted people to know why we were doing this. As we passed people going back up the marathon, so many people told us that what we did was so amazing. I had no idea that we had had that effect on people. Our goal was simply to give Mom the marathon experience. We were able to do that but we got so much more. Hands down, that was my most memorable and favorite marathon. 

Thanks for checking in with me and come back again soon.