We headed back to the hotel early evening and ordered Allen's traditional pre-race meal...Pizza. Allen was up Monday morning at 4:45 am (eastern time) preparing for race day! He said the whole experience was so very cool and he is already talking about "next time". Mid morning (the race didn't begin until 10) I headed downstairs and hung out in the hotel lobby watching the beginning of the race (which was a town away) on tv. I was very excited to see none other than Allen Cravens begin his race and high five all the people around him as they crossed the start line :) I then braved the "T" all by myself and luckily delivered myself safely downtown to mile 25.5 where I watched all the elite runners come in. My favorite was watching the wheelchair racers....a young guy with down syndrome turned the corner and realized he was less than 1 mile from the finish line and broke down realizing he had done it. I stood there and cried along with him as he wheeled past me...I can only imagine what this accomplishment meant for him and I was so proud for him! The things I have seen at these marathons amaze me...In Chicago we watched a guy who was blind finish the race! The crowd was amazing where I was cheering for every single person that came by and later Allen told me it was like that the ENTIRE 26.2 miles! Here is the race clock coming by with the first 3 male elite runners coming in. All three (including US runner, Ryan Hall) broke the world record for the day, but unfortunately it was not condsidered official because of "wind assist" throughout the race.
After the elite runners ran by, I made my way to the "pick up your marathoner" area. I was sad I didn't get to actually see Allen run, but I wanted to be waiting for him as soon as he finished. Allen had a GREAT race with a time of 3:21. He felt great after the race and said that although it was the toughest course he has run, he had never felt better! I am SO proud of him and he is already planning another Boston Marathon in his future...now he is just trying to talk me into running with him :) Don't think so, buddy! As soon as the race was over we headed to the hotel. I had to check out before the marathon began, so Allen improvised and showered in the pool area...ha. I told him there was no way I was sitting next to him on a plane without him getting a shower :)
We got to Grenada a little before 2:00 am and crashed! Allen had been up for 22 hours and had run a marathon in that time...I don't see how he was still functioning! At 7:00 Jack woke up to find Mama and Daddy there and he was beyond excited! He definitely doesn't miss us when we are gone, but he sure does get excited when we get home! Jack was spoiled rotten all weekend by all four grandparents! He got to drive the tractor, the 4wheeler, the boat (not actually in the water though), the truck, and got to feed the horses. I'm not sure he was ready to go home with us :)
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| Sorry it's so blurry, my mom took this picture of him with her phone...looks like he was having fun! |
Congrats to my hubby for finishing this HUGE accomplishment! And no, this does not mean you can begin training for Iron Man now!
1 comment:
So proud of Allen!..Please tell him for me..Love your blog...Thanks for sharing your thoughts, days, and pictures with us...Love you all
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