I remember the day I met Chad, I was working on the Spirit of Norfolk as a Deck Hand and here comes Mr. Bear in his Christmas sweater and he stood beside me and greeted his command as they boarded the ship for their Christmas Party. They kept telling him that he was really fast and I asked him if he ran because I was training for my first marathon and obviously I loved running. He assured me he did and told me about Hampton Roads Runners. I ended up coming out to the meet-ups a few months later. Eventually this led me to meeting Dennis and David at a meet-up and I started working with Dennis April 2013.
Chad and I usually attended the same meet-ups with DWEP and did the same races when his busy schedule allowed it. In August Dennis and Chad paced me through the Virginia Spartan. The whole time he kept encouraging and motivating me to continue and finish the race.
There are certain people that change your life forever, Chad is certainly one of those people. I know we will all see Chad again and that he will have the time of his life in Japan for the next 4 years but we will all miss him here in Virginia Beach. We will miss "The Bear" more than he realizes.
Chad and I usually attended the same meet-ups with DWEP and did the same races when his busy schedule allowed it. In August Dennis and Chad paced me through the Virginia Spartan. The whole time he kept encouraging and motivating me to continue and finish the race.
There are certain people that change your life forever, Chad is certainly one of those people. I know we will all see Chad again and that he will have the time of his life in Japan for the next 4 years but we will all miss him here in Virginia Beach. We will miss "The Bear" more than he realizes.