He Did It!!

My crazy (and crazy awesome) husband scratched a major item off his Bucket List on Saturday. He ran a marathon. Yep, he's nuts! We drove the course a few weeks ago, and its one thing to try to imagine 26.2 miles, but HOLY COW!! It was a long way! His original goal was to do a 1/2 marathon this year, then the full marathon next year, but the training schedule continued right on where the 1/2 marathon training schedule left off, so he decided to just go for it. It was kind of a long summer having him gone running 3 nights a week after the kids were in bed, and for several hours every Saturday morning, but I'm so proud of him for sticking with it, despite how often I told him how crazy he was!
If you click on the pictures you can view them a bit bigger. :)

 Here he comes!!

Running up the final hill.

 Maybe its just me, but I think he was smiling just a little. Whether it was because the finish line was mere feet away, or we were right there cheering him on, I don't know. I can't imagine the satisfaction one must feel at that moment. (Just the relief of the worried wife! ;) )

 Here he is about to trip at the finish line. J/K, but that's what it looks like....

 Crossing the finish line. 4:17:34

He has been decorated! (I don't know why this picture is rotating itself. Sorry!)

Joey wearing Daddy's medal. (Notice he's still upright)

As we were waiting in line for him to get a massage (that didn't work out, don't get me started...) the woman in line behind us was talking to us a bit, and said this was like her 4th marathon. She started out with St. George and was only planning to do the one, but became addicted. She said it was the hardest course she had done and she was ready to quit at like mile 6. She also told us she had a friend that had run one a week for a YEAR! Later the friend was talking to the woman and I heard her say this was a good race to end on because this one made her not want to do anymore. Needless to say, the walking he had to do is nothing to be ashamed of, and it was a great time for a first marathon on such a hard course. It was a beautiful day. It was already almost 60* when I dropped him off about 5 am. The wind was a bit of a pain for the runners, but I'm just glad it wasn't cold. I got a cute little sunburn (very uneven :p), and the kids' faces were a little pink. I didn't even think about needing sunscreen because its been so long since we have needed it!