Sunday was a big day for the Hadley family at the Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth.
This was the first time Collin Hadley participated in the half-marathon since he ran back in 2014.
His wife, Emily, was reminded of the memory on social media.
“She said some of the Facebook memories really hit you like a ton of bricks,” Collin said.
After the half-marathon in 2014, Collin was diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
Once Emily saw the old Facebook post, she encouraged Collin to do the half-marathon again this year.
“I was fired up! Get me back in the action. I was ready to go,” he said.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
However, this time he traded his tennis shoes for a special pink chair provided by Ainsley’s Angels.
“It was absolutely awesome. So cool out there. I loved it,” he said.
Friends and family took turns pushing Collin mile after mile.
“Throughout this whole ALS journey, we have been with our friends and family, and they have kept us going. Today was really symbolic of that,” Emily said.
Emily and their son, Connor, pushed Collin to the finish line.
Collin said he felt a feeling of pride and thanks at the end.
“Having a bunch of friends surrounding me the whole time, picking each other up at every mile meter, people having ‘Curveball Hadley’ shirts on… it was one of the coolest things,” he said.