In the early Spring of 2019, Elizabeth Simon, a 39-year-old mother of 4, recently completed her quest to run a marathon in all 50 States, bringing her grand total of marathons run to 64! An avid runner since High School, Elizabeth gradually worked her way through longer and longer races.  In 2008, Elizabeth ran her first Marathon in Georgia. Although it was physically taxing and required a recovery time, she was hooked. She discovered and joined the Houston based 50 States Marathon Club.

While training and competing in marathons throughout the Country, Elizabeth Simon is a dedicated wife to husband Rob, Mother to four children as well as maintaining a full-time career. Her children ranging in age from 5 – 14, along with her husband got a taste of marathon training when Elizabeth encouraged them to cross the finish line with her in the Chattanooga Marathon. Members of the Simon family ran along with Elizabeth in various legs of her 50^th marathon, all joining together to cross the finish line with her.

The experience of crossing the finish line with her family as she completed her goal of running a marathon in each of the 50 States was icing on the cake. The accomplishment of running a marathon in each of the 50 states is a remarkable achievement. Couple it with being a mom to 4, wife and maintaining a career, it is monumental.

Husband Rob wanted to honor his wife Elizabeth’s accomplishment by tying together the memories of the 50 marathons in a single memento. Searching the web for a gift idea that would tie together the memories of each of the 50 marathons into a single commemoration, Rob discovered Just-T-Shirts Quilts in Marietta, Georgia.

Just T-Shirts Quilts specializes in customized quilts made from t-shirts and clothing gathered from life’s special events. Armed with a shirt from each of the 50 marathons, Rob and the children went to visit Just T-Shirts Quilts.

After discussing the design pattern with the owner Kyle and the ability to incorporate a t-shirt from each of the 50 marathons, Rob decided that a customized quilt that would be in the family for generations was the right gift to celebrate the achievement that Elizabeth had accomplished.

Working with 50 t-shirts from 50 states, it was decided that the custom quilt for Elizabeth would be a two-sided quilt to prominently feature each race while honoring the totality of her accomplishment. Just T-Shirts Quilt added a custom stitch pattern, 26.2 throughout the quilt to represent the distance of a marathon.  The shirts are included on each side of the quilt in the order in which they were run.

Now that this customized quilt has been completed and presented to Elizabeth as a lasting memento of years of running in marathons throughout the USA, Rob will have to prepare for the next phase of his wife’s running ambitions.

Elizabeth will not stand still even after running 50 marathons, she now has set her sights on running in the most prestigious marathons in the world including, Chicago, Berlin, Tokyo and London.

More about Elizabeth from this article published in the AJC https://www.ajc.com/news/local/atlanta-woman-runs-marathons-states/molpYMksM0nmDh3pmxC5PK/

An inspirational running weight loss story https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a27312362/weight-loss-transformation-christopher-hasty/

I got some flowers! Ok they’re dandelions but what a special gift.

Rob called to tell me he was coming by on a Saturday with 4 kids. He’s in charge of his wife’s quilt as she travels. Rob shows up with his 2 boys. One around 9 years old and the other 5. Awww part of me was disappointed all 4 kids didn’t come, but the other 2 of 4 kids ended up being with family.

It was refreshing to be around the 2 boys. They are both young baseball players. We just happened to have a couple of graduation baseball quilts in house in progress. The boys were interested on my explanations on the story behind the quilt and how we quilted the baseballs on the quilt. I walked them through the design process and the a quick overview of the software. That seemed to hold their interest for a bit. Once bored though, with Dad’s approval they played outside close to the workroom. Rob and I continued on the beginnings of a double-sided quilt for his wife. We have 50 shirts as she’s run one marathon in all 50 states. That includes the Boston Marathon!

The boys came back in after being outside for a bit and the younger came in holding his hand out and offering me a handful of what to him were flowers. They are dandelions, but the point is he wanted to be nice back. I guess something I said or did struck a chord with him. This made me feel super special as it was something totally unexpected.

It was Mother’s Day weekend. Ok I expect flowers from my husband or my son, but really not from a strange child that I just met. It was more a shock as I hadn’t even paid attention that dandelions were growing outside and available to be picked.

The simple gesture from a child said so many things to me. It said a lot about his parents, particularly his Dad. Where else do you learn that flowers are a ways to show appreciation to a girl. And I seriously didn’t do much except be nice, include them, and offer them graham crackers and TV when they got bored! To this child, it meant a lot, and that’s what I got flowers for! He doesn’t know they’re weeds LOL. To him they’re flowers. I smiled and fussed over him once he gave them to me. His eyes seemed to light up with the realization that he did something that made me happy.

So ladies and gents, don’t ever forget that you’re a role model. Your words, mannners, gestures and generosity, your children are learning from, and they can have an impact where you least expect it such a on a complete stranger. In this case, me.

In that simple gesture I was the recipient of many of the things that women appreciate in a “good” man. This was coming from a very young boy.

With Father’s Day now approaching. Thank you to the Fathers and parents that are there setting a good example. Keep up the good work. The results can be powerful!

And, yes, bring your kids. It’s ok! Really.