Congratulations MaryAnne!

I (MaryAnne) never let Brad post this, but after reminiscing about my first half marathon after my most recent one, I kind of thought it might be fun to have it officially in our blog.

Usually these posts are written by MaryAnne, but I needed a turn for this one. MaryAnne ran her first "official" half-marathon yesterday. We ran the Provo half-marathon course together 2 years ago but did not run the official race due to extreme poverty and the like. However, I got one of those Chase Bank coupons in the mail that gives you $125 if you open up an account with them. I did that about a month ago and we used the money to pay for the race registration for MaryAnne and we also purchased a region free DVD player for me so that I can finally watch all of the movies that I purchased legally in China (as a side note, had I purchased the pirated ones from off the street, they would work just fine, so it really pays to do things above board....but I digress). Information about the race can be found here. She ran it with her friend, Jenna McGowan. The girls left early, and then Brett and I followed about an hour later with the kids. In traditional fashion, I forgot the camera and so I had to take pictures with my phone. Not the greatest way to document a huge accomplishment, I know. I was in a rush and spaced it until we were in Lewiston, NY (very close to Niagara Falls). The course is gorgeous and goes from Lewiston to Youngstown and through the old Fort Niagara (important holding during the war of 1812) and then goes along Lake Ontario to Porter on the Lake at Fourmile State Park.

I got pictures of MaryAnne at mile 5 and at mile 10. Then, I ran back to Brett's car to get the car seats out and put them into our car (remember, that MaryAnne and Jenna left early in our car) so that I could make it to the finish line in time to see MaryAnne. Jenna was a bit behind MaryAnne and so I didn't want to risk missing the finish. I had a bit of a car seat disaster and was booking it towards the finish line hoping to make it in time. The problem was that the only road to the finish line was the same road that the runners were on. So, I was driving as fast as I could on the opposite site of the road, making careful deviations back into the fray to avoid getting the car smashed by oncoming traffic. I passed MaryAnne a bit before mile 12 and gave her my best encouraging yell as I made my way towards the finish line. When my GPS told me that I was 0.2 miles from the park, I hit a road stop. They were letting the oncoming traffic come though, so I thought it was only going to take a minute or so. After 3-4 minutes, I knew that time was tight and so I pulled off the road into a golf course parking lot, got out the double jogger, loaded it with Annie and James, and made my way for the road that I thought was the shortcut to the finish. I was told that the road went to a campground and that the shortest route to the finish was the one that the runners were on. Figuring it was 0.2 miles, I started booking it. I was passing people left and right and the spectators on the side of the road were giving a lot of encouragement to the father of two dressed in a long sleeve t-shirt and jeans running for his life with James screaming at the top of his lungs (he had not eaten in 5 hours, so the cranky screaming was to be expected). Well, was the finish line 0.2 miles in front of me? No it was not. Try about 0.85 miles. I rounded what I was told was the last bend and saw MaryAnne in front of me. I turned up the juice to full sprint, but she was off like a rocket herself. I crossed the finish line about 10-15 seconds after her, but I did see her finish! No picture, though. My apologies to MaryAnne, but at least I didn't miss the big moment entirely. She turned around and saw us and we had a big family hug. The race people gave me a water bottle, and I could have gotten a finisher's medal, but it didn't feel like the right reward for running less than a mile.

MaryAnne was a flash! She ran the race in 1:50:53, which means she averaged an 8:22 mile for 13.1 miles! That is a pace good enough for qualifying for the Boston Marathon (only catch being that you have to run twice as far...). She ran negative splits for the whole race, which any coach is always thrilled about. She also finished 8th in her age category. Needless to say, I am a very proud husband today. To be a nursing mother and pull off the training, as well as the speed is inspiring. In fact, after she finished, a man came up to her and said "thanks 327 (her number)! You were an inspiration. Every time you passed us we were amazed. You really helped me during the last few miles. I almost caught you at the end." Jenna was also amazing. She hadn't run farther than 8 miles and she finished the race in 2:14. Wow. I think MaryAnne and Jenna took a picture before they started, and I will try to get that up soon. In the meantime, here are the pictures from the phone. I love you MaryAnne!

MaryAnne at mile 5

MaryAnne at mile 10 -- still going strong!