Running a 200-mile relay for The Matthews House

Back in 2012, Diane and I met a nice man named Wes at an event in our new community in Rist Canyon. "You guys look like runners," he said, which was an empty compliment, because we had only run a couple of 5k races at that point, and didn't see why anyone would ever want to run more than 3 miles or so at a time. But Wes seemed like a reasonable sort, so when he asked if we'd like to join his running club we didn't think twice.

That turned out to be a bad decision. We quickly discovered that everyone in Wes's running club was insane. Wes himself ran multiple full marathons per year, including one in Africa where he had to dodge very large animals, and had a personal goal of running the Boston Marathon at 70. Claudia could maintain a 9-minute mile for seemingly forever, and signed up for this ridiculous event called The Wild West Relay where she and her teammates ran 200 miles from Fort Collins to Steamboat (who would do this?). Debbie once finished the last ten miles of a full marathon on a broken foot. She now runs marathons in South Florida, of all terrible places, probably losing pounds of body weight to the humidity with every mile.

With Wes and his crew, Diane and I graduated to 10ks. And then half marathons. We started running every Sunday morning no matter what the weather was: heat? run; wind? run; rain? run; snow? run; single-digit cold? run! We traveled to other states just so we could run in a half marathon. We ran in the Horsetooth Half ... multiple times. We started thinking: maybe a full marathon could be fun. Ha. Eventually the group faded out, as all things do, and so did our running habits. Diane still ran sporadically, but I found other ways to get my cardio and spend my time.

In mid-2024, I crashed my motorcycle pretty badly, breaking quite a few bones. During the recovery, I found that if I stopped exercising for a day or two, I started feeling really stiff and unhealthy. So I didn't stop, and after a year I was healthier than I had been in a long time. But I hadn't started running again, because I had learned to make good decisions now.

Fast-forward to the Fall of 2025, and we had developed a habit of going to Verboten Brewery for lunch after the gym. We quickly became regulars and started getting to know Suz, the manager and Monday bartender at the time. She was in the midst of her own running adventure and was telling us cool stories of the races she had run in or volunteered at, and I started thinking restarting running might be good for my continued health journey. Somehow Suz figured out I was weak-willed, and she pounced. Next thing I knew, Diane and I had both agreed to join Suz's team on the Wild West Relay. Diane makes bad decisions too - she married me, after all.

200+ miles from Fort Collins to Steamboat Springs, over 36 hours. Two major mountain passes, one on Forest Service Roads. Total hill-climb of about 15 zillion feet, give or take. Sleeping in a van, or on the ground, or not at all. I don't know what I was thinking, agreeing to do this before I had even started running again. But you know what? I love a challenge, and I will crush this one. I will run in the dark. I will run on the dirt trails. I will run up the hills. I will make 12 new lifelong friends (10 runners who are not Diane, and 2 drivers). I will have an experience I will never forget.

To increase the impact of our shared trauma, Beer Now Run Later is partnering with The Matthews House. The Matthews House does great work in our community and is a wonderful organization to be affiliated with, and each of us has committed to raising $1,000 to benefit them through Colorado Gives. They are giving us great support and making the job of organizing a team of 12 crazy people so much more manageable. 

I'm so very proud to be a part of this team of great people, and I can't think of a better cause to support than The Matthews House. 

Please donate generously, help me run to Steamboat, and help The Matthews House improve the lives of teens and families!