Matt's first trail race win!

Many people start running later in life, and what a great thing to discover running in your 40s, after your kids go to college, or after you retire. There's nothing like the joy that comes from trail running in beautiful places, the peace of early morning runs, and the sense of accomplishment that comes from finishing your first ultra or a premier 100 miler like UTMB or Western States. Matt however, discovered running and his love of trail racing quite a bit earlier than that...(cue the flashback music)

Newspaper clipping from 1981 showing the results of the Council Idaho 4th of July kids trail race (well grass but...).

Matt's first race was a 4th of July kids fun run in Council Idaho in 1981 at the age of 2. As seen below, Matt was so fast he not only won the race, but had time to be talked into "breaking the tape" before the other runners finished. Matt had learned at an early age not to break things, so he didn't want to "break the tape" at the finish line. 

Matt reached the finish line tape first, but did not want to break the tape. Matt is being told that breaking the tape to win a race is ok and he won't get in trouble.

After this race, Matt had a love of running and never stopped running, even though he didn't always win the race.