CENTENNIAL, Colo. (KDVR) — Families across the country are gearing up for Mother’s Day, but one Centennial family is getting ready to celebrate by going the extra mile.
Maria Matney said she’s always wanted to run a marathon, but wasn’t quite sure it was doable.
“I’m going to be 55 this year and I knew Denver had this marathon and I’ve always wanted to do it,” Maria said.
Now with the help of her husband and three kids, the family is making it happen.
“They all said yes right away,” Matney said. “They could’ve been like, ‘Oh my mom, what another crazy idea. We’re not doing that,’ but they were all in.”
The Matneys are running in the 2023 Colfax Marathon Relay in Denver.
“The first leg is 6.5. Then there’s a 3.9 slight uphill. There’s a 5.6 in the middle. A 4.1 screaming downhill, and we knew we were giving that one to my husband and then the final one is 6.1,” Matney said.
Her three kids, Jason, Jeffrey and Julia, have all been training for their leg of the race on May 21.
“I’ve got the last stretch about 6 miles,” Jason, the oldest, said. “I think it’s important to stay active, so I like that we’re working as a group to get this done.”
Jeffrey, the second oldest, said he’s been wanting to do more distance.
“I think it’s nice to be able to come back as a family because all of us have gone off to college, so it’s nice that we all get to gather and do something as a family because it’s not too often we get to do that.”
The youngest, Julia, is making the trip from California to Denver to run the race.
“I was pretty excited,” Julia said. “This was a fun thing to do. I want to run with my mom and my family, so seemed like a great idea. We’ve never done this before so maybe this can be an annual thing and we’ll do it again next year.”
Matney said she wasn’t opposed.
“I did 6 miles this morning and I just never thought I’d get there, so yeah maybe I’ll pull out my 12-week regiment and do it again,” Matney said.
The race is next weekend and organizers told FOX31 they’re expecting more than 20,000 runners.
There are eight races over two days (May 20-21): Marathon, Marathon Relay, Half Marathon, Urban 10 and 5K.
Registration is still open.