Matt did it!!!!!!

Matt Bingay is WMRA's Program /Operations/News Director. He's also a father, husband, soccer player, lusty (appropriately so) beer drinker, and Mr. Fix-it around the house. In other words, Matt Bingay is a busy guy.

He's also, as of Saturday, a bona fide Marathon Man, because he ran in, and successfully finished, the Sun Trust Marathon in Richmond. Here he is in the standings for men, ages 40-41, finishing pretty close to the middle of the pack.

• 290. Frederick Davenport---------------4:40:12
• 291. Matthew Bingay-------------------------4:40:49
• 292. Steven Berman-------------------------4:41:02
• 293. Jarett Tighe-------------------------4:41:08

I've worked alongside Matt for almost a decade now. He is as nice as people get; pleasant, open-minded, helpful, patient. He's often dogged in pursuit of a project, particularly when there's technology involved, but I had never thought of him as having the kind of bull-headed super-ego that it takes to run 26 miles, 365 yards--which we all know is technically physically impossible for human beings. You  run that far on grit, not energy.

Matt decided to run a marathon when an old buddy from out of town called and asked him to. That's a very Matt-like reason to do something; the man keeps his friends, because he's willing to keep on having adventures with them.

There have been months of training, months of stories of training. Matt's Marathon has been a favorite topic of hall conversation. We all enjoyed thinking Matt might run a marathon. But I'm not sure any of us thought our own resident Mr. Nice Guy would actually push through the pain, both physical and mental, that comes with actually finishing one.

Hmmmm. Mr. Matt, you are a person of parts unimagined. My most profound congratulations! There are achievements and Achievements in this life. And finishing a marathon, in my opinion, is one of the latter.