Some people go to dinner & a movie . . .

But not Matt and I. At least not lately. Instead our weekend dates the past few months have frequently been training runs for our marathon. The one we would run together.

My favorite was when the babysitter came at 7 AM on a Saturday morning for our 20 miler.
"So, you're going to just run for the next 4 hours?"
"Yep."
"Oh." Which, from the look on her face translated to,"You are really, really crazy."

Yes. It was a crazy idea. But we did it.

Initially we'd set a time goal, but with house hunting, packing, & moving, we did not put as much effort into our training as planned. We changed our goal to simply running the entire race together & finishing hand in hand.

When we started the race, I think we still both wanted to try to reach the time goal, but 10 miles in I knew that would not happen. Matt kindly slowed down so we could reach our primary goal of sticking together. He encouraged the crowds to "Cheer for my awesome wife!" when I was hitting a wall (and another and another). We made up rhymes at each mile to keep us going (Mile 14 there's a pain in my feet. But after this race I'm gonna eat & eat!). We voted for our favorite bands & cheerleaders along the route. Mostly I just groaned in pain & concentrated on breathing & keeping one foot in front of the other.

Unlike my first marathon, which was a momentous & spiritual feat, this marathon was just exhausting. I don't know if it was too many missed training runs or incorrect fueling or lack of sleep, but most of the 26.2 miles was just hard & painful & I wanted to quit. Our finishing time was ridiculous - slower than my first marathon - yet I had significantly more pain & exhaustion. At the end I felt so dizzy I couldn't even walk to the car (The doctor at the aid station said he thought I was overhydrated, something I'd never heard of . . .evidently I should eat salt while I run).

But during all 26.2 miles, I had this handsome guy next to me encouraging me the whole way. And that was awesome. When we saw my parents and the kids at mile 25 I couldn't hold in the emotion any longer and started crying. And finally, we crossed the finish line hand in hand. I love how in these pictures Matt is so peppy & I feel like I want to keel over and die.
Thanks to my awesome training partner Jenn for taking them. Thanks to my other awesome training partner Rachael for cheering me on while she sped past at every out and back. Thanks to the professional photographers for capturing our hand-holding finish (but not our finish-line kiss).
And thanks to my parents who took care of these rugrats while we raced and while we recovered (my dad didn't realize his camera was taking video . . . oops).

But mostly, thanks to Matt for sticking with me & supporting me every step of the way, not only during this 26.2, but always.