Thank you

To you and you and you......

Can't believe this chapter of my life is over. Seems like it is just beginning. That is because it really is just beginning. All that is ending is the more public part of my running life. And with the end of my Local Joe run I need to thank a few people.

I must start with the Prairie Fire Marathon, the Wichita Sports Commission, Bob Hanson and Lacy Hansen. Without them picking me as a Local Joe this year, everything that I have accomplished this year would not have been possible. I have had the desire to run a marathon for many years (or half marathon), but never had the push to get started. They are the ones who helped me get started on the road of accomplishing this goal.  I will never probably know why they picked me to be a Local Joe, but I am happy they did. As I told Bob last Sunday night (and tonight), thank you for changing my life and I will always be there to help the PFM and the Wichita Sports Commission when needed.

Big thank you to Go Run/Fleet Feet for all the training and support. They are the ones who kept us on our feet and on schedule. Joel and Renine Stansloski have been awesome and very supportive. Thank you for providing us with all those water stops on all our great training runs. If you ever thought about running, I suggest looking into one of their Start 2 Finish groups. They will get you to the finish line.

To Coach Natalie, thank you for the constant support! I didn't know what this whole group running thing was going to be like or if I could even run in a group. Your constant support kept me showing up every Saturday morning at 6:45; Even on those long drives to the far west side of Wichita. Your cheering made those 10 mile runs on those humid mornings a little more bearable. Thank you for being our coach this Summer.

To everyone in the H3/STFU group: thank you! You made this running newbie feel very welcomed. As I said above, I was very worried about the whole group running thing. I am proud of each one of us and how we grew as runners. Thank you for sharing your running expertise with me, as it has helped me greatly. I can't wait to see us all cross the finish line on Sunday.

To my fellow Local Joe's: Congratulations! This has been a journey that seemed to fly by way too fast. Then again back in the middle of August when it was still 90 degrees at 9PM, it seemed it would never end. Happy we all got to the end of the journey. None of us gave up. We all had injuries or sickness,  and maybe even some thoughts of "why the hell did I sign up for this!", but we never gave up. I am happy that we all got to meet, run as a team and support each other. Lisa, I know you will cross the finish line in the Spring! Hopefully many of us will be there running with you.

To my family: thank you! This hasn't only been rough on me but you all too. Thank you for the support and constant words of encouragement. I know there were many nights I made us change our plans just so I could get my training runs done. I know how that frustrated you at times. Thank you for letting me do this. And please understand, it might never end.  :)

To all the friends and random strangers who followed me on the journey, thank you for following me. I know I probably filled your Facebook feeds with all my training runs, and at times you probably rolled your eyes when you saw a new one show up. Yet you continued to give me great words of encouragement. I now promise to keep my running updates to one or two a month, maybe.

As this journey comes to an end, I am reminded why I started the journey: to show people that no matter how busy you think your life is,  you always can find time to run and get fit. I hope I did this and I hope I got one person encouraged to run and maybe even sign-up for the Prairie Fire races.

Thank you,

Justin