The Chattanooga Marathon and Paris

Hey everyone!

It's Nathan. A lot has happened since we last wrote. All good stuff, though! First of all, let's discuss the Chattanooga Marathon debut...

The Chattanooga Marathon

We were feeling great after mile 20. I was feeling a little rough, but I was going at a pace where I could qualify for Boston—by we, I mean Alan Outlaw (owner of Fast Break Athletics) and I, who I can't say enough good things about. A guy that can run a 2:40:00 marathon knowing when to push and when not to is a great man in my book. Alan also helped coach me through the process, which was difficult given my stubborn attitude towards more workouts and less slow, easy runs. "You have to build that fitness base, and you build that by running slow" (another term for this is called MAF method) is what he would say to me when I insisted on doing another workout. Slowly though, he chipped away at me until I was teaching others about the MAF method.

Anyway, back to the marathon... I was feeling a little rough through 20 miles when I felt it coming: I was about to have a partial seizure. David Cobb wrote about it at the tail end of this article after the marathon, but luckily, Alan knew just what to do. I told him I wouldn't tell anyone this, but he handed  me one of the meds I take when I have a seizure. I couldn't talk for a while, and my head was twitching to the right for about a minute -- but we ran through it, though we couldn't regain the sub-7 minute pace we were accustomed to. We finished in 3:07:09. Had we not had the seizure episode, it would have been a Boston Qualifying Time (which is 3:05:00 for my age group). At the time, I was really upset. If I just hadn't had that seizure!

I expressed my frustrations with my dad and long story short he got me a spot...in this year's, which is in a month!!! So, I am preparing myself to enjoy the prestigious Boston Marathon! If I had qualified, I wouldn't have been able to go until next April. God always comes through the back door (as my mom would say) and boy did He ever.

God also blessed me with a more incredible gift. As I was frustrated walking back to the car, this little boy came up to me and told me I was his hero and that he wrote a paper about me in school. This almost brought me to tears. Why was I so involved in this trying to run a 2:5X:00, when I was already a hero to this kid? Are my priorities that mixed up... AGAIN? This brought me back to reality where I realized that winning isn't everything. You have people that you don't even know watching the way you live your life, so live it like "Christ is formed in you."

The kid who brought me back to reality!

Here are some more pics from the marathon!

Alan and me before the start

Jack and Liz at the finish line!

I thought this was a cool pic.

#greymatters

Paris

The day after the marathon, we dropped Jack off for 11 days with Elizabeth's sweet parents (Meepsie and B, as he calls them), and we set off for Birmingham for another infusion. I honestly don't know what we'd do without her parents. They have been such a gigantic help to us. They take care of Jack every two weeks while we're at UAB and give us a peace of mind knowing that Jack is in the best of care. THANK YOU, Beth and Buddy, from the bottom of my heart for all that you do for Jack.

  From Birmingham, we set off for Paris!! Let me take a step back and tell you that Katie (Elizabeth's sister) dreamt big when her company, Beautycounter, asked for wishes to be granted. She wrote in that her sister had taken French her whole life (even minored in it in college), and her husband had terminal brain cancer. She asked them to give us a trip to Paris. Well, Christmas of 2015, they granted it! Last year and a week before the trip, I had a grand mal seizure which ruined any chance of an all expenses paid trip. Beautycounter said they would reschedule it any time, and a year later, on our five year anniversary, we finally made it!

Us on our five year anniversary!

My sister and Cal, in a crazy coincidence, were in Paris for a few days when we were there! You can read her blog here. If you read her blog, we all had a blast!

A lot of people asked me what my favorite part of the trip and as I have had time to think about it, it was watching Liz live out her dream. She was so excited about everything! She kept saying, "I feel like I'm in a dream, and I am going to wake up and the Eiffel Tower is going to go away!"She loved the cafe's, shopping in the Marais, the Eiffel Tower, just everything! It was like I was living vicariously through her. Though I had a couple episodes, everything was AMAZING! I felt like I was always hungry. I went off my diet, because you just can't go to Paris and not eat the bread. Needless to say, I gained ten pounds!

Thank you Katie and Beautycounter for letting Elizabeth life out her dream. I was just there to tag along ;) We seriously can't thank you enough.

Here are some more pics from our trip to Paris!

Liz, Hannah, and Cal take a selfie in front of the Louvre 

Liz and I with Hannah and Cal

Liz & me at Versailles

Liz made me try Escargot...and I ordered them for every meal after this

At the Musee de L'Orangerie infront of the Monet paintings

Musee D'Orsay

Arc de Triomphe

Thank you all for the continued prayers and for getting us to Paris and back!


Much Love,

Nathan