Matt and I hadn't talked much since high school, but he was always thinking about you.  In April this year I got a message from him, telling me that he had ran into some people that were headed to Corvallis.  He apparently told them to come by my restaurant.  What a thoughtful guy!   How he keept that database of his past friends and current friends is amazing.  Here's a guy that I've talked to a few times since high school, and he knows enough about me (where I'm at, what I'm doing) to help me out.  The world needs more guys like that.

One of my favorite memories of spending time with Matt was when we were both working together for National AIDS Marathon Training at the Miami Marathon in January of 2007. 

It was early in the morning and we had just left the starting line of the marathon.  We were soaking wet due to a torrential downpour which had just unleashed about three inches of rain all over the 25,000 runners waiting for the gun to go off.

We made our way back to the later part of the course where we were stationed from miles 18-22 and would stay for the next ten hours as our runners slowly made their way towards the finish line.

The sun eventually came out and started to warm up the wet ground causing great humidity as temperatures steadily rose to the upper 80's.  As our runners started to come in to our zone, we quickly realized that they were sweating profusely and losing much of their bodies sodium due to the salt streaks visible on their faces.

As I reached into my backpack for the salt packets we brought with us, i could feel the moist paper disintegrate in my fingers along with the wet and slimy salt.  Without sodium it seemed unlikely that many of our runners would be able to finish the last 6-8 miles of the race. 

Matt sprang into action and before I could even think of what to do next he was sprinting down the road and out of sight.  In less than five minutes he came bounding back up with his hands full of salt shakers.  Matt had run up to a restaurant and somehow convinced the waitstaff to give him all the salt shakers from their outdoor tables as well as a 2lb box of salt to refill them with! 

We literally spent the next 4 hours shaking salt into the open mouths of runners who came staggering up to us.  I will never forget that afternoon or how Matt's ingenutiy and charm saved the day. 

Coach John