Keys 100 Say What!?!?

I’m still a little in awe. MY HUSBAND RAN 100 MILES! It’s so hard to comprehend what this man can accomplish when he puts his mind to it. Since I’ve known him he has been into fitness and running but nothing like this! You can see all of his previous runs HERE.  He ran his 1st marathon 3 months ago and of course one would naturally think the next step is a 1oo mile run, right?

He left Friday the 18th in the afternoon and drove down to Key Largo for a mandatory meeting. He spent the night down there and was ready to start running at 6am on Saturday. Most of the runners had a crew that would meet up with them every few miles and give them whatever they needed like water, ice, food, dry socks/shoes, etc.  We had hoped that I would be able to crew him but with all 3 kids that just wasn’t possible. We decided that I was just going to stay home with the kids. Little did he know that I was planning to drive down there and surprise him all along:D

This is how it went down:

On Saturday the 19th in the morning he started running at 6am. Aidan had a birthday party to go to so I got everything ready in the morning, took the kids to the party then headed down to the Keys. He would text me the mile marker he was at every now and then. At 10am he was at mile marker 78. He maintained a nice steady pattern of running 25 minutes/walking 5 minutes during the first 12 hours. I got a text at mile markers 72 and 65 and then I called him. I met him at mile marker 59 which means he had run 41 miles! He looked great!

It was so fun being there for him and watching him actually accomplishing the goal that he had set and worked so hard for. We stuck around for a few hours and met up with him every couple miles to fill up his water and give him ice.

Waiting for daddy.

Here he comes!

High five!

We decided we would give daddy a little more uninterrupted running time and meet him at the 50 mile marker so I took the kids to Kmart to play with the toys. Then, Rich texted me when he was close to the 50mm and we rushed over to greet him.

So proud! He was doing so well. He looked even better than he did after his marathon! I couldn’t believe how great he looked and how positive his attitude was. A lot of the other runners were lying down, limping and just straight crashing at the half way point but not Rich, he was smiling and excited to get started on the last 50 miles! His feet were wrinkled from running in wet shoes but luckily he had a dry pair waiting there for him.

 

This was where we said goodbye:(

We wished him luck and sent him on his way. I made the drive back home, put the kids and myself to bed while Rich continued running and running and running…through the night. I didn’t get any texts from him all night and when I woke up in the morning and saw that he still hadn’t texted me I got worried. Was he ok? Did he make it or was he still running? At 6:45 am he texted me: “Mm11, long night, will call when I can, love you!!”

Holy cow! He was still running! As I came to find out later he had made a friend that couldn’t run because of an injury and he walked with him the whole night. He said that it was miserable walking and that it made his feet hurt more but he was glad to have a buddy who’s wife was crewing him so he was also taken care of through out the night. It was a miserable, rainy, cold, long night but he said that as soon as the sun came up in the morning he felt rejuvenated. He had told his buddy that as soon as the sun came up he was going to take off running and that is exactly what he did. With 11 miles to go he took off running! He said he felt fresh with a renewed energy and he definitely took advantage of it. He said that he ran his last 10miles at a 7:30 pace! He was flying, passing a ton of people who cheered him on for having the energy to book it after so many miles.

Then, I got this:D

I remember when he first showed me a picture of that buckle and said, “Wouldn’t it be so cool to get that?”.  There he was, holding the buckle. I was so ridiculously proud of him! I still am. It is so amazing to me that he can accomplish ANYTHING that he puts his mind to. Congrats Honey! You are incredible!