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before the sun rose this morning, so early the camera was even bleary eyed! Josh set off with one pace runner. 2 hours and 45 min later he has gone 13 miles and has 2 more join in with him.
It is a breezy over cast day but not cold so looking good :mrgreen:
this is shots of the start, support crews and 1st pace runner with Josh and Steve.
don't know if I will get any more posted before tomorrow...
 

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half way there! a totatl of 6 runners have relayed around him so far, some I know most I don't, simply amazing seeing people step up to the plate and turn out!
 
Steve is relaying location and time information to the different runners so they can find Josh drop in and out as needed
 

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it was a huge day yesterday, a major wonderful rollercoaster ride of emotions. It took the day to regroup, settle down and get back here to post.
So, for those still interested......
there was a continual relay of runners with Josh, some we knew and some we know now!
Jason who started with him in the dark of the morning almost immediately twisted his ankle and continued on, running ten miles. I saw him at the finish and his ankle was as swollen as a baseball, I have no clue how he ran on it for ten miles. Jason used to work with Steve at the scuba shop and visits him every Friday. Our friends Jenny and Robert came from Baton Rouge to run 13, my daughter's childhood class mate ran 12 and my co-worker's niece ran 5 on the tail end of the flu. My best friends daughter flew in from Kanas to run 17, 4 of them on the beach. One lady committed to run 13 had a stress fracture to her hip, being her father had passed from ALS she was so disappointed about not being able to run she walked 13 miles instead.
this group of amazing individuals was flush out with a group of more amazing individuals from across the panhandle of florida who ran 12 miles plus each who stepped up to the plate for someone they didn't even know.
these are some pictures of these Angels
 

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there were 2 support cars. One was 2 of my good friends who were joined by Jason when he was done with his leg of the run
 

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great pics! What a wonderful day for you and everyone involved. What great people!
 
Our friend who is a retired fireman now working homeland security emergency management. He also hooked us up with the Sherriff's dept for the beach support
he is center with Josh and some of the support runners....
 

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great pics! What a wonderful day for you and everyone involved. What great people!
oh there is more Barbie!:mrgreen:
 
mid day Josh was joined by his two little girls for a few blocks (his ex is our niece)
 

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at 3o"clock I had Steve at the foot of the Destin Bridge to see Josh come over the bridge to the beach. It was over cast breezy and damp. The sand parking lot filled up with friends and family anxiously waiting. The sheriff's support rolled in as did the mist.
 

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and we waited...and in they rolled! it was a feeing I cant find the words for, this man was at 46 miles of running for my Steve.... unreal! I was on pins! my mother was in tears and it is difficult to recount all the feelings with out crying myself, and I am not a crier. The strength that exuded from this group of people as they trudged over the bridge, pure will power and love!
 

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a little love from his daughters, a drink and Josh said "Come on, Lets do this." He was ready to be done, past ready. There where 4 more miles down the beach to go and they were going to hurt bad and he knew it, and he hurt bad already. So down the beach we headed. Josh, my niece, Charlie the safety guy's wife, Jason's girlfriend, a gentleman from Panama City, and my best friend's daughter.
this part of the run was surreal, in retrospect .... deep, reflective, just so much.
we ran off into the abyss, dragging Josh through hell, with heaven waiting on the other side.
 

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the abyss... my Steve might laugh at me calling the beach that. But what was a misty grey sky over a bright white beach quickly turned dark. It was beautiful. After passing by one lone fisherman we had the beach to ourselves. Six of us. The wide smooth beach was nearly untouched and we each ran finding our own stretch of easier to run on hard sand, we ran abreast in a line. The surf was big and loud, the wind wet, strong and at our backs. The mist made it hard to see very far, and the beach so completely empty. And we ran, the six of us alone with Josh, and Josh alone in his own hell.
We ran, and when Josh walked we walked, and then we ran, and so on. Sometimes we found the hard sand at the water's edge and we ran with cold wet feet and then we might find it up by the sand dunes. So up and down the beach we traveled shoulder to shoulder as we trudged forward, changing our tactics as Josh needed. It grew dark and we were lit from behind by the two sheriff ATVs, the mist obscuring any light from stars, moon or anywhere else, we were deep in the abyss and the surf roared.
We chatted and visited as we moved forward into what now looked like nothingness, and Josh would venture out of his private darkness and join us when he could. He shoved me nearly over once, saving my bare feet from a beached jelly fish. He joked that he was an idiot, that he probably could have run 10 and raised the money, or even had just stopped back there at the bridge! who was the brilliant person that came up with this great plan anyway? ....and we continued forward.
Then suddenly the terrain changed, our smooth beach was as if elephants had plowed the sand, it was difficult to even walk in this soft pot holed sand. We had come to the first area were folks visit the beach and their feet have destroyed our possibility of any easy going. We needed to get back to the waters edge to find the easier travel, but the first dim piece of light from our destination was making its way through the mist and Josh was making a bee line to it, shoulders hunched he plowed forward. We rallied around him urging him on. It was hard for me, cant even imagine how he managed to still struggle on but he did. 50.6 miles! Thinking on it now I realize God allowed me to witness a small miracle.
 

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Then after getting his breath Josh climbed those stairs and joined Steve in solidarity, as for that 12 hour 50 mile journey Josh was as Steve is, the high and the lows. (We even had to roll Josh onto a luggage cart to get him to his room) It was a prophetic day with so many layers I have a new epiphany with each recanting.
I would have never believed someone could love Steve as much as I, but perhaps I was wrong
 

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