“Dude I need some inspiration because I’m hitting the F’ing wall right now.”

This was the words uttered from my exhausted mouth between breaths to my buddy, Brady, over the phone during a hike break in my 2nd annual after school marathon.

​ The “After School Marathon” is a concoction invented after realizing that my wife, Lindsey, and I were moving away from Iowa to Virginia.  Back in Iowa, I would run from the middle school where I taught almost every single day.  I thought that running my very first marathon after work on a random Wednesday would be the best way to commemorate an amazing two years of teaching.

In retrospect, I’ve realized that the 26.2 miles I ran around Ankeny, Iowa could also be considered the “World’s Flattest Marathon of All Time…Ever.”  This thought crossed my mind a year later about 22 miles over extremely hilly terrain through the woods of Danville, Virginia. Continue reading