Marathon Emotional Milestones

A story about two emotional marathon experiences - Sahil Bloom reuniting with his father at the finish line, and Nick Bare's breakthrough moment at mile 20.

Sahil's Story: "My dad and I have been really close my whole life. I played baseball in college, and when I had to retire because I was hurt, the hardest thing was telling my dad because so much of our relationship had been built around the sport. He told me at the time 'I don't care, I'm gonna be there to cheer you on in whatever your next thing is in life.'

At my marathon, he surprised me and flew out for it. Those last 6 miles I was hurting so bad, and all I was thinking was 'I gotta get to my dad, he's at the finish line.' When I crossed the finish line and I had done it, gone sub 3, he was standing there and I broke down completely. All of the emotion that you hold in from trying to get to something or struggling through it, hitting your goal - that emotion is completely unparalleled."

Nick's Story: "When I was at mile 20 at CIM, I knew I was running sub 2:40. I was on pace and I could feel this lump forming in my throat, getting emotional. I was thinking 'All this work, this is why I did it.' I'm holding 6:05 paces at mile 20 with 6 miles left - home stretch. When you finally hit that goal and it's because of the work you put in, there is nothing that replaces that."