Marathon 09

Joel, John, Charles and Kyle


Well, time really doesn't matter when your running a foot race does it? Joel hit an all time high. Over 5 hours. But, he says it was the best one so far. 2 weeks earlier he had a strange flu (H1N1?) It made him weak all over and his thighs felt like they were one big bruise. They hurt to even lightly touch them. He didn't feel 100% when he started the race but he finished it. Here's part of the story:
We have a little girl, 11 years old, in our School and Stake that had cancer last year in her leg and had to get in amputated. This year our Principal Burke Staheli - best person in the world, I wish he'd run for Mayor - ran his 11th marathon but this time is was for her. Darby Riley. She's on the student Council with Josh. Burke had the schools in Washington County try to raise $26.02 per class to raise enough money for her to buy a prosthetic leg. They had purchased it and the money was going to pay it off and when Burke got a block from the finish line Darby was going to run with him to the end. She was so excited. But a couple of days before the marathon Darby fell and broke her femur of the leg that was amputated. It was a spiral fracture which means it broke up through the middle of the bone. The hardest and most painful of all breaks. If you donated money for Darby then you received a purple ribbon to tie on you as you ran to show your support. Well, at mile #1 Joel's thigh started to hurt and as he started to get frustrated he rubbed his thigh and then looked down at it. As he did his eyes glanced at his purple ribbon for Darby and he said to himself, "I'm lucky I have a leg that hurts." And he decided that he would finish it no matter what. Here is a picture of Burke pushing Darby in a wheelchair to the finish line. It was so emotional.

There is a lot more to this story and you'll have to ask Joel about it. But, I am very proud of him and the amazing example that he is to me.