Aug. 2, 2015: Running

After Cade finished the 112 mile bike ride, he was too tired to change into his running shoes, but a full marathon still stood between him and the finish line.

“After everything that you’ve been through that morning, that’s the only thing you got left, and so I think a big thing of it is, you got to tell yourself positive thoughts,” Cade said.

Cade asked someone to help him change his shoes before putting on a beaded necklace he packed earlier. It was given to Miles through the hospital’s program, Beads of Courage. For every step in his treatment, such as a surgery, Miles got a new bead. 

Now, Cade needed some of that courage to get him through the race. So, with Miles around his neck and in his heart, Cade started running.

“I think we all want to make Miles’ life meaningful, and I think this was Cade’s way of doing that,” Brooke said. “When you lose a child, there’s just a part of you that you lose, and I think you want the name of your child to carry on.” 

Cade felt good for the first half, but once he got to mile 14, he felt like he hit a wall.

“My vision was narrowing,” Cade said. “It was super blurry.” 

Cade walked for the next four miles. The reality of how difficult the Ironman is settled in for both Cade and Brooke, who watched from the side. She had never seen him this fatigued before.

“Just seeing him like that, that made it more real for me,” Brooke said. “… Cade is always mentally tough, so even if he’s having struggles or he’s having a hard time, he doesn’t really voice that very much.”

Cade’s brother, Jason, who was volunteering at the race, saw it too. He ran onto the course and fell in stride next to him. This motivated Cade; It was like they were kids again, racing from the grocery store to the car. 

Cade picked up his pace, and Jason — the man who was by his side when they fought as kids, and when Miles was born and died decades later — did the same. 

“Just having him at the race was pretty awesome, especially because he knew everything that I did that race for,” Cade said. 

They stayed that way until the last mile, which Cade had to run alone. He could already hear the crowd cheering at the finish line. He pushed forwards, until finally, he made it.

“Hundreds, maybe thousands, of people in downtown Boulder just line the streets, watching you cross the finish line,” Cade said. “[It was] unreal, very exciting.”

Cade had finished an Ironman, but he didn’t think about the countless miles he trained or the 140.6 miles of the race. To Cade, the word wasn’t about distance. It was his son’s name, which would carry on. 

“I do know that I’ll always have him with me,” Cade said.