It has been a long journey with lots of ups and downs, highs and lows. The journey probably started 9 years and 250+ pounds ago. As Marty says, he was a tank. He made the determination that he was going to get healthy and fit. He started by pushing Rylee in a stroller as they slowly walked around the mall. As he was able to walk further he started to walk the Provo River Trail in Provo. He gradually built up his endurance and walked a 5K fun run. Team Christoffersen was there for him all along the way. We cheered him on every step of the way. Many people thought he couldn’t do it, but we knew better and cheered him on.
Over the next 5 years about 100 pounds came off as he continued to walk on a daily basis. When Marty was in high school he was a major athlete competing in multiple sports. He longed to get back to a healthy weight and an active lifestyle. He really loved running triathlons and wanted to start that again. He gradually started to add a little bit of running into his workouts.
When we moved to Arkansas he bought a bike and twice a week would bike to the fitness center in Bentonville, swim for an hour and then bike home. The weight continued to come off. However, one day Marty’s knee gave out on him. The doctor told him not to bike any more. Running & swimming was fine, but biking was to be eliminated. Now what?
Marty then set the goal to run a marathon. He wanted to run the Little Rock Marathon in March of 2009. However in January, Marty fell on the ice and broke his hip. Another setback. The doctors released him to slowly start back training in July. He wanted to run the St. George Marathon in October, but missed the deadline to sign up. So the hunt for another race began. When Marty found the Las Vegas Marathon, he knew that he had to participate. And participate he did.
Here is Marty all ready for a chilly start.
For the marathon they closed all 6 lanes of the Las Vegas Strip to car traffic for runners only.
There were nearly 25,000 runners (most for the ½ marathon, but about 6,000 for the marathon) I quickly lost Marty in the crowd.
In true Las Vegas style, there were Elvis runners, a run through wedding chapel, bands, and lots of fun people. I love to watch people. I really wish now I had taken more pictures of some of the people, but this is the only one I could find.
I was able to catch Marty at the 3 mile and 9 mile marker. After that the marathoners turned off the strip leaving the ½ marathon runners behind. I had no way to get off strip to see Marty for the last 16 miles. I then went to Breakfast at the Paris and waited for Marty at the finish line.
Interesting thing about the 9 mile marker. The runners were running on the opposite side of the street from where I was. There was no way to cross the street other than, well, cross the street. I wanted to get closer to him to get a good picture. I was stopped by a police officer and told that I couldn’t cross the street because this was a “very serious event” they had going on here. I explained that I knew it was a serious event and I wanted pictures of the serious event. He let me stay in the middle of the strip and get my pictures.
Here he comes toward the finish line.
As he passed me, he gave me two thumbs up, but due to my excellent photography skills, this is the picture that I got.
Here he is right after he crossed the finish line. He was tired, but said that it was his best run ever in 5 hours 36 minutes 12 seconds.
Marty has been trying to decide what kind of a reward he wants for accomplishing such a great challenge. I reminded Marty of a goal he had set 9 years ago. He bought a leather motor cycle vest in a size XL. At the time he was over 500 pounds. He said that if he could ever fit into that vest he would buy a motorcycle. I asked Marty if he still had the vest. He went to his closet and pulled it out, sure that it wouldn’t fit. He was right, it is too big!!!!! I told him that we needed to buy him a motorcycle for accomplishing two major goals . . . losing 250+ lbs & finishing a marathon.
Anyone that knows Marty knows that he doesn’t like to spend money, especially on himself. He wouldn’t commit to buying a bike. He test drove several and fell in love with one, but just wouldn’t commit. On Friday I took the rest of the money out of my “Miata account” and told Marty that we were going to go buy his motorcycle. He reluctantly agreed, but secretly I know that he is in LOVE!
I haven’t had a chance to get any pictures of Marty (or the girls) on the bike, but I’m sure there will be more time for riding when our daily temperatures get out of the 40’s.
