Matt's Gonna Run a Half-Marathon!

Every year on Thanksgiving, Matt and his sister and his dad go into downtown Austin early in the morning and run the Turkey Trot. It's a five-mile course through downtown.

I never run the Turkey Trot. His extended family has its own "Turkey Trot" at the same time in which we all go trotting around their neighborhood, with no particular distance specified, and then eat breakfast together afterwards. I participate in the walking and the eating. It's a good way to feel better about the massive quantities of food we'll likely consume later in the day.

But what surprises me is that Matt rarely trains for the Turkey Trot. He'll occasionally run a mile or two in the days beforehand, but last year I'm fairly certain he did not run at all in preparation for it. He pulls a Barney Stinson, says running is easy, and then just does it.

Barney Stinson: How To Run A Marathon from Basri Haitam on Vimeo.

A few months back, Matt sent me a text message over lunch.

Yes, we text in complete sentences, with proper punctuation.

He has fallen into the same pit of grown-up-hood that has previously befallen the rest of us: now that he is done with grad school, he had nothing to work toward. He needed a new goal. 

He fully admits it will probably be painful. Especially because running in Virginia is nothing like running in Texas, because Virginia is very hilly. But he's been starting to train, running three or four or seven miles a few times a week. I'm really proud of him, and I'm really glad I won't be running. (We have a friend from Texas that loves running half-marathons, and she might get to come up and run the race with him, and that would be pretty cool. We'll see.)

The good news is, he won't even have to worry about training for the Turkey Trot this year?

Have you run any races? Do you have any advice for him? And what should I write on the giant poster I'm going to make to cheer him on from the sidelines? :)