Marathon
First and foremost, I am so proud of Aaron. He trained hard and worked through all of his injuries to meet this goal of running his first marathon. He did AWESOME regardless of what he tells you. He ran the ENTIRE race and he completed it with a good time for his first marathon race.
These pictures were at packet pickup on Friday. We had fun Downtown!!!
Papa with Abraham
Papa with Abel
Now on to the actual day…it was not fun for me at ALL. The boys were FABULOUS. I thank God every single time I even remotely reflect back on it for wonderfully behaved little guys.
We got up super early and headed downtown to drop Daddy off at the race. We got there in good time and he had some time to prep before the race started.
Boys in the Burley sending Daddy off to the race
Papa before the Big Race
It was pretty crowded where we were and it was pretty dark so I didn’t get very many good pictures. We said our good-byes and I waited for the start. Once it did, I took a few videos of the people taking off and then packed up. We got back to the car and I made plans for us to get to our next meeting spot which was at the 17/18 mile marker. We had about 2 hours before we needed to be there but I figured the boys could play outside or we would kill time somehow. Little did I know what was before me.
I had maps and directions from Aaron to get to Butler (which was the meeting spot). I couldn’t get anywhere downtown. Every turn I took got us stuck because of the race course. The worst turn which was only about 10 minutes after I left the parking garage was on West street (going the wrong way but I had no choice). They shut down West street (both ways) but allowed traffic to stack up heading north. We sat during the ENTIRE 5K race. Nearly 1 hour stuck in traffic. The kids were wonderful, like I said. We ate snacks, sang songs, listened to music, played with toys, made up games to play. I familiarized myself a detailed map of DT which we had in the car. I am not the most proficient at knowing all the streets and which way they go but I have a great memory and am good at reading maps. We finally get to go but make this story short and sweet, we never make it to the meeting place in time. Hindsight tells me that I should have found the interstate and just taken that to the nearest exit to Butler and I would have saved myself a ton of trouble. Do you have any idea how hard it is to travel (be stuck in traffic, rather) with a young boy who has to go potty? Or a pregnant momma who has to go so bad she can’t see straight? It was nightmarish. I am thankful we were kept safe because we went through some pretty hairy neighborhoods during this unbelievable trek.
During my defeat, I had left the meeting place (after a potty break, thankfully) and we started heading back to the finish line to meet up with Aaron. We were stuck once again. We were sitting in traffic for about 25 minutes or so and I was watching the runners go by (they were running parallel to us just the opposite direction). I started noticing their numbers….Aaron would be close possibly. I seriously began fervently praying that we would see him so he would know we were okay. I was so worried that he would think something terrible had happened to us, that he would lose his focus on the race. I don’t think I stopped praying that entire 25 minutes. Then there was a break in traffic…I had to make a decision. We hadn’t seen him yet, but we needed to get back to the finish line. I moved over a lane to the break and we stopped again. I look over and there was Aaron! We honked and rolled down the windows and yelled! He saw us and waved!!! YEAH!!!! I was so emotional I just started crying (again…I cried a bunch that morning because I was SO frustrated). This time I was able to explain that my tears were of happiness because I got to see Daddy. Traffic opened up in our lane because we wouldn’t cross the course and we were on our way. I did a quick couple of tries to get across the course to get back but got fed up with it and headed for the interstate (why this didn’t occur to me earlier on is beyond me). We hopped on the interstate and made our way back to the finish line! We only missed Daddy by about 15 minutes from crossing the finish line. We met up with him rather quickly and it was a wonderful reunion! I was emotional (duh) but understandable. I let the kids out and they got to run around a bit while we got Daddy some warm, dry clothes and we took some photos. Then we hightailed it out of there because this momma was STARVING!
Daddy at the Finish
It was an experience to say the least and I am just ever so thankful that it turned out as “good” as it did. There were no accidents or bad situations. God has His hand of protection over us for sure! Plus Daddy finished and did great with no injuries (just leg cramps, but what do you expect when you go fast for 26.2 miles on foot)!
**And just for the record, this not being able to get from point A to point B was not the fault of ME. I am a very capable driver. My in-laws were trying to get to the same meeting place to see Aaron and they ended up turning around because they couldn’t get through either!**