Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon

Yesterday was Race Day!  Anthony has been training for the 1/2 Marathon for a few months and we were all excited for the day to finally be here.  The kids and I made posters the afternoon before (and actually kept it a secret from him, very hard for CeCe to do!)

 

Our friend (who was running the full marathon!) picked him up at 6 so they could get parked before the road closures started downtown.  The kids and I left at 8 to drive down there and try to find him somewhere on the race route.  I had no idea what kind of traffic or parking I would find but we ended up totally lucking out on a great spot close to mile 4.5 and close to the finish line.  The weather was beautiful.  Cool in the morning and warmed up to perfect by 10:00.  We walked to the 4.5 mile spot and waited and waited and watched the sea of runners to try and catch a glimpse of Anthony.  I decided to move CeCe's stoller out of the way a little more and as I was doing that I heard, "Brooke!"  It was Anthony running by and thank goodness he had seen us because we would have totally missed him!  I didn't get a picture though and was so mad!

 

 

After that spotting of Daddy we looked at the map and tried to decide where we could see him again and after walking a while decided to just head to mile 13 (right before the finish line).   

We hung out there for about 45 minutes before he came by. I was getting text message updates when he crossed certain points along the route and had figured out about when he should cross the finish line. The crowds got thicker and thicker of spectators and runners and I could tell I wasn't going to get a good picture that time either. I was getting the kids set up to cheer and hold their signs when CeCe said "There went Daddy" I said no way, he's not supposed to be here for another minute or two but sure enough, there he ran. So we missed him for the second time!!! 

Dancing while waiting and cheering, Go Daddy Go! 

 

The kids were AMAZINGLY well behaved all day.  I got a little snippy and stressed trying to get from points A-B-C to the finish line but they hung with me and had a great time. 

 

Found him!!  WAY TO GO DADDY!!  He finished in 1:51:58.  only 30 seconds over his goal time. 

 

 

These pictures were about 15 minutes after he crossed the finish line.  He looked great!  There were people laying on the ground groaning and he was picking up the kids and playing chase with them.  Super Daddy!  

 

We ran into our friends the Tootles and ended up playing/hanging out with them the rest of the afternoon.  Their dad is the friend Anthony rode with so we wanted to congratulate Lynn on finishing the full marathon.  They had access to the VIP tent and gave us bracelets to get in also so we had breakfast, lunch, and drinks all afternoon.  Definitely felt like VIPs!   

 

 

I am so proud of Anthony for doing this.  SO PROUD.  He amazes me with his determination for things.  Even though he was pretty stinky after the race I just wanted to be close to him so everyone would know that he is mine!  

 

The Tootle family after Lynn finished

 

After the race, while Bryce and Nick were playing and wrestling, Nick accidentally knocked Bryce in the mouth.  The tooth that was already hanging on for dear life got knocked a little and started bleeding.  It was time to pull that crazy tooth so while Bryce was freaking out a bit, Anthony yanked it out!  Doesn't he look so cute?!  I've been waiting on this since he started loosing teeth 1.5 years ago! 

 

Today is another big race day....Bryce is running in the Kids Rock 1 mile race today at 2:30.  You know I'll post pics from that race too!!