After Thanksgiving, Chris went to Las Vegas with his dad and stepmom for a few days. I had to stay home because I had to get back to work. Right after Thanksgiving starts our new quarter, which is always a hectic time. The weekend after Chris got back, it was our 6th Wedding Anniversary. We went out to dinner and then went to see Cirque du Soliel's Dralion at US Airways arena. It was a great show! Don't know if baby liked the music or not, but the loud beat during the show got it kicking up a storm, and when it would quiet down between acts, baby would quiet down too. I've gotten bad about not taking photos of stuff we do without Ryleigh.
The following weekend, December 9, 2012, was the Tucson Marathon in Tucson. Chris, my dad, and my brother, Cory were going to run it. We went down to Tucson on the 8th to go to the expo and for them to pick up their race packets. The host hotel for the race was the El Conquistador Resort in Tucson. We all stayed there. My parents booked a junior suite (or something similar) with a living room and a separate bedroom thinking my brothers could both stay in there if needed since it had a pull out bed. A week or so before the race they got a call asking if it was okay if they upgraded them to a different suite since the one they booked was unavailable. Of course they weren't going to refuse :) Come to find out they got one of the (vice?) presidential suite. And when we checked in, we ended up with the room right across the hall from theirs. So we spent A LOT of time in their room - heck there was plenty of room to spare!
You walk in, and this was one side...
That dining table came in very handy - especially for sign making!!
And this is the other side...
Oh missed the bedroom - don't know if there's enough room in here!
And a jacuzzi whirlpool tub and steam shower.
My dad and Cory before the big marathon! My dad's second, Cory's first!
Sunrise over Oro Valley. View from my parent's suite.
The Tucson Marathon is essentially a downhill race along a single road in Tucson's Oro Valley - Oracle Rd. They make a detour to run down by the observatory, but then come back to Oracle Road. At the end they turn into a subdivision, run behind a shopping center, and finish at a school. The racers had to get to the shuttle location early in order to be driven up to the starting line. The guys left super early - before 5am. They had to catch a shuttle by 5:30am and the race started around 7am. We decided to leave around 8am to drive up to find a spot to see the guys. We tried to aim for around the observatory which was about the half way point for them. It wasn't a far drive about 15 miles, so we figured we'd have plenty of time. Just as we were leaving, we got the message that Cory was at mile 6.1 in 54:36, which is under a 10 minute mile pace. We needed to hurry. Traffic was pretty slow as we climbed up Oracle. We could see the fast half marathon finishers, and even saw the first few marathon finishers as we were driving up the road. There weren't many places to turn off to stop and watch. We found a spot to pull over in this desert parking lot for some trails. And there were highway patrol guys out to help people cross the road so we could get closer to our runners which was nice to see.
Up first is Cory (red shirt by the shoulder) He came up faster than we'd expected. Think there was a little delay between when they crossed the time markers and when we got the texts of their time.
Little wore out, but not too bad. Only one of our crew brave enough to try the full in Vibrams - true minimalist shoes!
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| From 2012 Winter Nov Dec |
The other guys took a while... So long we had to break out the touch and put the kid in time out because she was going stir crazy. The signs came in handy to sit on. This look got lots of smiles and comments from runners. Apparently the glasses on the head with the touch was quite the pick me up for them at mile 14ish.
Chris looks like he's hurting. He had a sinus infection the week before the race. So he was in the middle of his antibiotic cycle during the race. He was definitely exhausted already by this point.  |
| From 2012 Winter Nov Dec |
After we saw everyone, we headed back to the car and made the trek toward the finish line. Topher had driven down from Phoenix that morning to see the guys finish. He tried to come up to where we were, but the timing would have been too close, so we told him to stay at the finish area. Around this time, Cory hit mile 17 and started getting calf cramps - he needed salt tablets. My dad had the salt tablets in his Camelbak. It was pretty helpless as we were driving back and we passed my dad and Chris, but we couldn't pull over to get salt tablets from them since we were literally driving off the shoulder due to the detour of traffic. Then we passed Cory knowing he needed the salt tablets, and still couldn't pull over. There wasn't even a fast food restaurant until we were almost to the finish line area. So we told Topher to go find some salt for Cory and some Gatorade, just in case. We got the shopping center where they wanted everyone to park, and we walked to one end where the racers were going to turn to run behind the shopping center in a residential area. At this point they had about 2-3 miles left.
Here's Cory as he's trying to run, and just as he's about to start to get a cramp. Apparently I didn't upload the good face he made mid cramp.
Ready for some salt, and to be done with this race!
Ryleigh's high fives always can pull out a smile :)
After we saw Cory at this corner, we walked up to the school. On paper it didn't look too far. Come to find out, it was more than a mile from the shopping center to the school. So we decided not to go back and try to see the other two boys at this corner. But we had to walk to quick to try to see Cory at the finish. He crossed right before we got there :(
And somehow he's smiling at the finish. He completed his first marathon having never ran more than 16 miles straight and not having attempted the run/walk before. Way to go Cory!!
6.1 miles - 0:54:36
12.7 miles - 1:57:51
19.3 miles - 4:06:34
26.2 miles - 4:28:33
After he finished, he had to ice his cramping calf. And he decided to sit down, which he shouldn't have. After he got up his whole body started shaking from the pain of the calf cramp as he tried to stretch it to stand. He could barely hobble let alone walk. And when he tried to stretch on the hill we were waiting on his whole body started shaking again. That's one tight calf cramp!
We had a while to wait for the other two. Since the finish was at a school, Ryleigh took advantage of the playground and bossing her uncle around.
Finally, we saw Chris coming. I'd had a talk with Ryleigh and told her that Daddy and Grandpa really needed help finishing the race. So she was going to have to run with them and make sure they made it to the finish line. So when we saw Chris, she knew her job and was ready.
When Chris rounded the corner, Ryleigh ran out and gave him a hug, and then started running to the finish with him.
Just as Chris crossed the finish line, he came around the fence and lifted Ryleigh over so she could run and finish with grandpa. I don't have a good one of them running to the finish, but there is an adorable one of my dad holding Ryleigh at the finish line that the race photographers got. Here's my dad reaching out to take Ryleigh's hand.
All 3 finishers!! They did it!!! Congrats guys!! So when's the next marathon?? :)
Chris's Splits:
6.1 miles - 1:13:20
12.7 miles - 2:35:53
19.3 miles - 4:06:34
26.2 miles - 5:51:49
After the race, we had the mile plus trek back to the car. We convinced Cory and Chris to take the shuttle bus back to the hotel. Cory could barely walk, and with the sinus infection, Chris was beyond exhausted. My dad walked with us back to the car and we got Subway to take back to the hotel for lunch - again that dining table came in handy! Ryleigh and I took a nap, the boys watched some football and then we went out to dinner at a brewery. The boys deserved a big meal and some beer after all that exercise.
Beautiful sunset over Oro Valley to end the day.
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