When my college friend Andrew Frevert told me he was getting married in Vegas on December 7th, 2008, I said cool. Then he said he and his finance Rachel would be running the Las Vegas Marathon, cool again. Then he said they would be getting married at mile marker 5 of the marathon. Whoa, wait? What? With so many options these days on where and when to get married, this has been the most creative and interesting marriage I’ve been to. Andrew and Rachel have been big advocates of marathons and hiking. After the initial shock, this actually just made sense. I was excited and ecstatic that I didn’t have to also run to mile marker 5 just to see the ceremony.
After my cousin convinced me to stay up all night and make the 6AM marathon start for some photos, we proceeded to try and find a way to the chapel location 5 miles away. After the couples started arriving at A Special Memory Wedding Chapel, and 50+ Elvis impersonators ran up to join the festivities, the wedding ceremony began. The reverend stood in front of at least 30 couples for this free ceremony to registered runners. After a quick ceremony, the runners were off again finishing the final 21.2 miles. After 5 hours and 9 minutes, Andrew and Rachel approached the finish line with water bottles of a just married theme tied to their backs. With a romantic exhaustion, Andrew picks up Rachel and carries her across the finish line of their first marathon as Mr. and Mrs. Frevert. I guess 2 forms of Congratulations are in order. Congrats and Congrats!!
