Marathon Man

He’s done it again. Rich ran in yet another race today. This one marks the beginning of what I’m sure will be many Utah runs. Here he is right after his run.

He beat his previous marathon record by 9 minutes coming in at 3hours 38minutes, which is amazing considering what little training he had. He placed 2nd in his age group and out of 152 runners Rich placed 17th!!!!

He is certainly making a name for himself in the Air Force. He ran in a 5k on base a couple weeks ago and got 1st place!

He had his PT test this past week and got 100%. Not only that but he was only 8 seconds short of setting the base record for the run. While his running drives me crazy most of the time, I am quite proud of all of his accomplishments.

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!

My Honey’s 1st Marathon!

I hate getting back blogged so I’m desperately trying to play catch-up with all of the important events. One of the most important is Rich’s Marathon!!

He just ran it on Sunday and did such a great job! Now he can add one more run to his growing list of events.  I’m so proud of him! He has been training so hard and overcoming setbacks to run this marathon and HE DID IT!! I’m so annoyed with myself that I though I had hit record on my phone but apparently didn’t so I didn’t get him actually running:( The good news is that I was there, I got to see him AND I took pictures after:D

During the race, waiting for daddy.

Sadly, this is the only picture of him actually running.

Poor guy was so exhausted by the end, this was the only pose I got. He pretty well collapsed after this one.

(Overexposed pic and I’m too lazy to fix it. Sorry.)

He told me that the only thing that kept him going during the run was the idea of throwing himself into the ocean when he was done…he did just that.

Meanwhile, the kids played.

After his little soak in the ocean he slowly regained strength enough to give me a smile.

I have to mention that I’m ecstatic to get my husband back. It’s been a lot of sacrificing for him to train for this marathon.

Love him. He is AMAZING.

13.1 Go Rich!!!

Rich is so awesome! Today he ran in his 2nd Half Marathon.

That makes:

2 Half Marathons

2 Sprint Triathlons the 1st of which can be found HERE.

1 Olympic Triathlon

1 Half Ironman

He inspires me to strive to be fit…I said inspires, doesn’t mean I actually am fit;) He headed out the door at 4:30am to be ready to run at 6am! I got up at 6:00 and got the kids ready to go so that we could cheer him on at the finish line. The kids, especially Aidan, had such a fun time sitting by the finish line clapping and cheering for all of the incoming runners.

Maybe someday my kids will actually look at the camera when I take a picture.

So awesome!

First guy and girl to cross the finish line!

Here’s a video of Rich coming in for the last stretch. Sorry it’s all shaky. I was trying to wave to get his attention because I had seen him looking around for us. It obviously didn’t work:( But here’s a video of Rich finishing up his 13.1 mile non-stop run!

Rich made a friend during his run. Chris is here on vacation from Australia. He saw that there was a run and decided to go ahead and do it! They ran together off and on throughout the race.

We let the kids play for a bit before heading home to crash on the couch.

Rich ran at a 7.23 per mile pace. Way to go honey! We are so proud of you!