I couldn't bicycle that fast!

Aaron wasn't always a runner.  In college he pole vaulted.  After college he became a jumps coach with a few different high schools, then somehow he began coaching cross country.  For fundraising events the school would put on races, he ran a few of them here and there.  He was pretty fast!  Then he started dating me.  I went running, so he came with me.  Our first race we ran together I actually beat him, it was the towns big mountain race.  I think that race might of officially launched his running carrier, he was pretty frazzled that this girl had beaten him. 

I moved to Juneau for a summer while in grad school and began doing large sums of mountain running,  he came and visited.  On one of those visits he ran a 9 hour ridge line run with me.  I think that hooked him, for sure it impressed me!  ... this guy might be a keeper. 

Anyway, so launched his running career.  That first summer Aaron did some huge runs with me, including a run across the historic Chilkot trail (a 32 miler).  The next summer he married me, then the summer after that we biked through Canada into Montana, he was becoming an endurance machine.   I don't know if he ran then to impress me or because he liked it, but he ran none the less.  Finally for our 2nd anniversary we put an official race on the calendar, the 50th annual Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks.  Afterwards, he was hooked on marathoning.  He hadn't run as fast as he had anticipated and knew he could run faster. 

So this past fall when Sitka announced it was going to host a 1st annual trail marathon he signed up for marathon #2.  In fact Aaron signed up for every race Sitka had to offer.  He completed his first ever triathlon, then he race the hardest trail half marathon imaginable, the Medviji and finally the same mountain race I had beat him in so many years before.  He was ready for the Sitka marathon.  However since he was so fit he smoked all the competition coming in first by 25 minutes.  He wanted a race where he'd have some healthy competition.  His friend Brent Cunningham asked him if he wanted to run the Portland Marathon.  Aaron went for it, being in the best shape of his life, he only needed to stay fit for a few more months and then he'd get to run a race with people, not in front of them. 

The Portland marathon proved to be a challenge.  In Aaron's previous 2 marathons he had held back finishing both race with reserves.  This time he wanted to go out strong.  And strong he did, his first 5k clocking 17:30, too fast, he still had 23 miles to go!  By mile 21 his pace slowed, he hit that wall he had heard about but never hit in his previous marathons, but still he was looking strong.  He clocked a 2:45 at the finish, equivalent to a 6 minute mile, 25 minutes ahead of what he needed to qualify for Boston and 16th overall!  He ran the race he had wanted to run and accomplished the exact time he had wanted to get, PRed by 11 minutes and finished in the top 20 out of nearly 7,000 runners! 

Unfortunately I wasn't able to snap any photos while cheering/ chasing him around, but I have a feeling I'll get another opportunity in the future.

I received an e-mail from my dad this morning stating that he couldn't bicycle that fast!  I too was impressed, and also impressed by that female that blazed by him at mile 23, making sure Aaron wouldn't be too proud and giving him a new goal for marathon #4, whenever that may be!