1/2 Marathon in 2:01

I couldn't have been more proud of my wife today (this one's for you, babe!). She's been faithfully training with Traci & Jocelyn (& the kiddos!) for 3 months now to run these 13.1 miles. The total mileage for the last three months has been almost exactly 150 miles (and she's been keeping pretty good track!).
When we got to the race this morning, the temp was 32 degrees. Chilly. . .but not much risk of heat stroke ;-)

Melis might add more details about how the race went tomorrow. . .but I'll just give the Cliff Notes version: it went awesome. After running with Melis in training runs, I thought that a best-case scenario might put us at about 2:05. . .but that'd be pushing it. We got to the 1/2 way mark at exactly 59:57. . .and we finished in 2:01 exactly. A pretty amazing race for the three 'cheatah's' first 1/2.
The significance of that crazy yellow bandanna? That's a part of the shirt they cut off me that I was wearing during the last 1/2M that I ran and got heat stroke. One part spite, one part redemption, and one part thankfulness for another shot at it.

The official name of this was the Valentine Marathon & Half. Hence the cheesy shirt.

A big thanks goes out to the ladies for keeping me entertained the whole race. At different points we all told stories (the childbirth comparisons lasted a little long for my liking), but the ABC song game was a little more enjoyable. Melis gives a big shout out to Abigail Joy, who put her 'stroller face' on for roughly 80 miles (including one 9 mile run), helping the Mom train.

Not a bad 31st bday.