My wife is amazing – 26.2 miles

I am SO damn proud of Tara. This last weekend my wife ran the Rock-N-Roll Marathon here in San Diego! I’m so proud of her! Ashby, Brenda (Tara’s mom) and I were there to cheer Tara on. It was very emotional. I freely admit I shed a few tears of pride and joy for her.

I don’t link to Tara’s blog here because that’s personal family content, but I’m going to excerpt Tara’s post about the marathon here.

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The downtown part was great and more so because our families were cheering us on at mile 6. Aaron had a air horn so it was easy to locate my awesome family with their signs.

Somewhere around mile 11 on the 163 my knees started hurting and my little toe on my left foot was aching. At this point, Jarod and I are still together running and we decide to slow down our pace a little.

Right before segment 3/Mission Bay my knees are throbbing but the vibe from the fans was energizing. I liked the neighborhood feel and the view kept me distracted. Also, I tried a few new things which gave me a burst of energy such as chewing on ice cubes and bubble gum. This was around mile 18 and at this time Jarod was going faster so we split.

Around mile 21 I was HURTING beyond words and I began getting emotional – way emotional. I cut out a picture of Ashby the size of my ipod and had it taped to the back. It helped me to see my daughter however it almost brought a wave of unexpected emotion during this mile. I got it together and just focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Luckily, when I passed the corner I could see the end point way in the distance which gave me energy.

At Mile 23 I realize I passed my buddy Jarod somehow and my competitiveness creeped in (in a good way) which pushed me to the end.

At Mile 24 I walked a few steps, collected my thoughts, and pushed all pain out the door. I ran strong till Mile 25 and at that time I experienced the “runners high.” I wish I could find out how fast I ran the last mile because I would not be surprised to find out that I did it in under 8 minutes. When I made the decision to “haul ass” I looked down and I had goosebumps everywhere and I did not feel any pain whatsoever. I literally hauled ass to the finish line. I heard Aaron’s bull horn and saw the finish line all at the same time. I saw my mom and Aaron and I began crying because I was so happy to see them and to be finished.
I finished with a smile and both hands in the air.

Questions I have asked myself:

Will I do it again? Most definitely.

How soon? In the next year.

What will I do differently? I will build up my quadriceps because I believe my knees hurt so much in the long runs because my thighs are not as strong as they should be to support the knees. (my dad’s advice) 🙂

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What is my goal? To get faster, stronger, and to finish the next marathon in 4 hours and 30 minutes.

4:50 am (my mom was up with me at 4:00 AM) 🙂

6 Mile Marker

Finish Line – weeping

Relief

Proud Daughter

Proud Husband (mom too but she was taking photos)

My Buds

Dressed for the post-marathon celebration at Jarod’s house – going through posters.

Ashby’s Poster

Aaron’s Poster

Poppa and Mimi’s Poster

The Day After – very stiff but itching to jog on Thursday morning 🙂

Once again, I would never have been able to accomplish this personal goal without my ENTIRE family.