One family will be running in the 18th annual Myrtle Beach Marathon in honor of a fallen solider and family member.
Brian and Lisa Jones and their daughter Krissy Stewart were happy to walk around in the Myrtle Beach convention center after an almost eight hour drive from Virginia.
While many runners at the convention center Friday were focused on knocking seconds off their times, Stewart had only one thing on her mind.
“The thing at the forefront of my mind is my husband is looking down at me from heaven and just incredibly proud of me just for the training that I put into this,” she said.
Training that was not easy especially when she has two toddlers at home.
Luckily for Stewart she had her parents to babysit and allow her to prepare for the event.
Time alone, she says, she needed.
“When you spend two hours out in the country running, and I can just think about my husband and think about the memories, it brings a lot of peace to my life,” said Stewart.
She says it was her husband and his love of fitness that got her into running.
Stewart says a week after his death, a friend invited her to a mud run something that helped get her back on track.
“I said let’s do it and it was the first time I was able to laugh after he was killed,” she said.
For Stewart’s family her husband was also a big inspiration in their lives
“You know I watched him grow from a spindly 16-year-old boy who wanted to date my daughter to this amazing man, this amazing marine, this amazing father,” said Brian Jones, Stewart’s Father. “Just a privilege to have him a part of our family and a part of our lives,” he added.
Stewart will carry a very important part of her husband with her during the marathon; his dog tag.
“I haven’t taken it off since they gave it to me and I keep it right next to my heart,” she said.
Stewart says she will also have the voice of her drill instructor husband in her thoughts; helping her every step of the way
“Step it out, step it out. He’s a marine so any time I feel like I need to slow down or take a break I hear him with me going step out,” she said.
Tomorrow will be Stewart’s first ever half marathon.