My husband ran his first full marathon yesterday in El Paso. You guys…that’s 26.2 miles that my husband ran!!!
The kids and I were super excited to cheer him on in the El Paso Marathon and my friend Jenn came along to help me along the way and joined us in cheering for Keith along the marathon route and at the finish line.
We actually went to Jenn’s house on Friday after homeschool PE to make posters for the race and we ended up making a trip to Hobby Lobby and getting supplies to make some t-shirts for the special day with glitter vinyl. Of course, we put her Silhouette to good use in making these shirts…I’ll take any excuse to play with a Silhouette!
He has been training for months and was feeling both nervous and excited to run on Sunday morning.
I got up with him super early (as in 3 am early) on Sunday morning to get ready to head out to where buses would take him to the top of a mountain to begin the race.
His preparations included putting the timing chip on his shoes, putting his race bib on his shirt, gathering all of his “stuff” and having a bagel smeared with peanut butter for breakfast.
I made him a verse to take along with him to focus on during the long stretches that he would be running.
Here he is before heading out the door…all ready to run his first marathon!
It was so early when he left that before waking the kids, I had time to write a blog post, take a shower, get myself ready and walk 2.5 miles on the treadmill while watching Grey’s.
Yes, I was a little nervous for my husband…
Once I woke the kids up at 6:30 to drive over to Jenn’s house, it was GO, GO, GO!
Yay…Team Daddy is all ready to head over to Ft. Bliss to cheer on our favorite runner!
We drove on post to about the 17 mile spot to wait on Keith to run through and cheer him on.
It was a perfect spot for us and Keith said it was a great place in the race for him to receive some needed encouragement.
He stopped to give the kids a hug and I handed him off a bottle of Gatorade and some energy gels.
He is such a good guy that he made sure to thank the Sergeant Major who was posted on the corner.
We watched him turn the corner and continued cheering for him until we couldn’t see him any longer. Then we piled back into the van to drive to the finish line which was located in downtown El Paso.
We really lucked out on parking spots in both locations! We found an excellent place to park just across the street from the finish line.
Throughout the race, I was tracking Keith’s progress along the running route with the Find My Friends App. I highly recommend this is you have a friend or loved one you’ll be cheering on in a future race!
I was able to make sure that he was continuing to move along the route and I was also able to tell approximately how close he was getting to the finish. This helped tremendously, because I was able to let the kids just hang out until I knew he was close, then we got ourselves ready to cheer and yell for him.
Jenny especially needed the time to just chill as we waited. It was a long day for the kids, but they did great the whole time!
I was so, so nervous for Keith that I kept hitting refresh on the app on my phone to track him down every 10-15 seconds during the last thirty minutes of his race.
And then I was incredibly relieved to finally spot him!
I thought my heart would leap out of my chest. I shouted to the kids and Jenn, “There He Is!!!!” and we began cheering as loudly as possible.
He finished strong and came over to give me a kiss.
I am so proud of Keith for accomplishing this goal of his! He trained hard and did something that most people would never even consider. He is my hero and my best friend!
Watching the end of this marathon was like nothing I’ve ever witnessed.
Runners were barely finishing before vomiting. They were in pain. Some were stumbling and needed medical attention. Then others ran across smiling and waving to their friends. Some had family members join them as they ran through the finish chute. And one young man ran through it with flowers in his hand to come down on one knee and propose to his girlfriend who was waiting with her own “Will You Marry Me?” poster.
Here’s a video my friend Jenn took of Keith coming through the finish chute and our little kiss. 🙂
Every single finisher of this marathon and any other marathon has my complete admiration and respect.
It takes a tremendous amount of focus, endurance, and stamina to accomplish a 26.2 mile run.
The rest of yesterday was taken up with getting Keith home and starting the process of recovering. There may have been a Big Mac involved.
He’s back at work today and enjoying knowing that he DID IT!!!
Thank you Jenn, so much for being there for us yesterday!! I honestly don’t know that I could have been there for my husband if you weren’t there for me.
Also, thank all of you for always reading and following along with our family’s story that I write and share in this space.
Crystal says
WAHOO!! That is awesome! What an accomplishment. I love your shirts and love that was a family affair. Way to go!!!