His Greatest Race

During the 1990’s, Jay usually ran the St. George Marathon the first weekend in October. At first it was just Jay and I, but soon John joined us in our trips south. Even Mom flew down a time or two on Skywest. The last few years we spend Friday at Mom’s cousins, Bill and Jan Boice.
October 2001 wasn’t any different than the years before. We drove down, ate at either a Wendy’s or a McDonald’s on the way and first stop once we got to St. George was to stop at the Dixie Center and pick up Jay’s race packet. While we were there, we would check out the other booths, especially those with samples. Then we ate spaghetti dinner at the Dixie Center before heading to the Boices for the night.
Since it was right after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, there was a booth for runners to sign up to run in behalf of those perished in the attacks. Most runners didn’t know one personally, so they ran for whoever was available. Dave Rasmussen, a co-worker from General Ledger, ran in behalf of some guy he never knew. Since Jay had met Eugene, Tracie's good friend, he asked for his name. Eugene was available and Jay was able to pin Eugene Whelan’s name to his bib.
Jay as usual, got up and met the bus at the park where the finish line was. When I dropped him off, it was quiet and dark, just the runners waiting for the next bus to take them to the starting line. At the usual time, the rest of us drove to the park and waited and waited. We began to worried because Jay’s time were usually under 4 hours. Jay had been complaining about his knees a bit and had not trained as he had in the past, so we checked the injured list. No Jay. Finally at 4 plus hours, Jay crossed the finish line. His knees were bothering him quite a bit, so he stopped for a break with the intention of dropping out of the race. But then after a short rest, he decided to continue. I don’t know if it was Eugene, the newest angel we knew of at the time, persuaded Jay to finish the race or if the rest gave Jay a second wind. Jay also mention that he had never quit a race before, so despite the pain, he gained courage and preserved. It was his worst time, but his greatest race. Jay had every reason to quit, but he endured to the end.