Race Day!!

 Actually, the day before race day there was a kids 1 mile fun run! Since Nate and I had to go to Akron to pick up our race packets we decided to enter the kids. It was free which made the decision that much easier. I was glad after it was all over to learn they got so many free coupon deals! Zoo passes, two theater play tickets each, cookie coupons, indoor trampoline play area passes, and a few more I am forgetting! Adalie and Hallie ran with me and ran the whole time until the bottle neck at the finish line. I will be entering these girls into some 5k's with me in the near future!

 Just before the run! 

 Nate stayed back with the boys

 Almost there! 

 RACE DAY!!! 

 I am so glad we did this race together! It was hard work, but SO worth it! 

 Getting ready to enter the coral. I think there were about 10 thousand people running! 

Our view until the race started. 

I want to document a 30 hour period that took place before and after the race:

4:30 pm we leave to Akron for the kids run and to pick up our race packets. By the time we finished all of that it was about 8pm. We started heading back almost an hour drive to our friend's house the Ellers. They graciously watched our kids while we raced. We all stayed the night there, I was afraid Ryan would wake up which is why I wanted to stay there too, and of course he did! Nate and I got to sleep at about 11 pm or so. Ryan woke up at 1. I got him back to sleep at about 2. Then Reid woke up to potty at 4. Our alarms were set for 4:45 so we said to heck with it and got up at 4. We were on the road by 5:15. The drive up and days and months leading up to it we kept saying never again will we race together on the same day because of the stress of leaving our children over night etc. When we parked I was SO grateful Nate was with me!!! It was dark, I was nervous, the music was loud and I would have been alone. I knew others running in the race, but they were there with other people. I was so happy to have Nate by my side! We ran the first mile together. I was about 25 feet away from him for the second mile and then by the 3rd he was gone. I was trying to pace myself, but with adrenaline and running with a huge crowd I couldn't tell if I was or not. I got a side ache at mile 7 that lasted almost the rest of the race. It was mild for the most part, but slowed me down a bit. by mile 11 it dawned on me that the race was almost over!! I had felt like I was going to run forever!! I started picking up my pace significantly at mile 11 and when I got to mile 12 I hit a wall! It was all I could to run 3/4th of that mile. I then sprinted to the end! Considering everything, I felt really good running that race! I wasn't super happy with my time, but I didn't push myself enough during the training, only looking to improve my distance. After I crossed the finish line I decided immediately I wanted to run another one! Running since then has been much easier knowing I can do the half. It felt good to accomplish that goal. 

I had signed up for text alerts from Nate's bib to let me know of his progress. He crossed mile 13 about the time I was crossing mile 12. His pace was consistent and he was expected to finish at the 4 hour mark. The next update was at mile 17 and I could see he was struggling, then mile 21 it got worse. I really started to worry! He injured his achilles about 4 weeks before the race and took 2 weeks off. His training suffered and he missed several long runs in addition. He crossed the finish line at 4:36. He sprint the end, but was hurting. As soon as I got to him I knew he was in pain. It wasn't his achilles, but his legs had been cramping so bad that in the middle of a stride it would cramp and turn his foot which forced him to walk. He would walk it out then run again and continued the cycle for about the last 10 miles. There was a statistic we read about 1/2 of first time marathon runners not finishing the race. He decided early on he would not be one of them! When he crossed the finish line the first thing he said was, "that was so hard and I am NEVER doing that again"! I was so proud of him for finishing! 

Now back to my time line! After the race it was about noon and we got in the car. Our girls had a soccer game at 1 an hour away and Nate is the coach. We wanted to go home and shower and we had someone covering for us, but we decided to just get to the game so we could watch them play since we needed to be there to pick them up and pick up our other kids. Once that was over I ran to see (look not touch) my bff who had just had her baby. We smelled great! Then I had to run in and do a little grocery shopping. See we live in a small town and since we were already in Wooster (the bigger town) you have to knock out everything you can! Once back to Orrville we had to run over to a girls house that Nate home teaches and move a table for her. Oh and in the middle of all of this Nate was in the front seat puking! We finally got home, showered, made a dessert for a baptism that started in an hour back in Wooster. Nate was baptising the convert so we had to be there! After that was over the women stayed for the General Women's Conference. I was EXHAUSTED!! I planned to just go home after the baptism, but Adalie begged me to stay since this was her first time attending since she was 8. I finally agreed and was glad I did. We got home at 10 pm and I went straight to bed! We woke up in the morning SO sore! It was quite the day!!! 

A few days later after Nate had regrouped he told me he wanted to run another marathon! I was excited because I knew he could redeem himself. I also plan to pick up my pace by 1 minute per mile! We both plan to train better and harder! We will probably stick to 5k's and 10k's though for the next year! It's hard to train with young kids. Life is going to get SO good when Adalie is old enough to babysit!