Congratulations, Runners!

June 12th was a big day for thousands of runners. My family in particular. My mom, and two brother-in-laws ran the half marathon. My brother, and two sisters ran the full marathon!

(All the while, Max and I babysat Kama-lama and had a ball with that sweet-natured baby girl.)

I would like to congratulate these runners on such an

 accomplishment! 

For one, this was my mom's first half-marathon and she did great! I'm proud of her for completing the race with high spirits! 

For two, Brent qualified for Boston! Waiting to see him come up over the bridge made me so anxious. I wanted him to make it so bad because he worked so hard, and after that last "marathon," he deserved to do well. I asked Max to check his watch every minute when we thought there was only 5 minutes left for him to make it past the Finish Line in order to qualify. Time came and went and no Brent. So, we patiently waited to cheer him on to the finish when all of the sudden we see the 3:10 pacer!!! (And if you don't know, Brent needed a 3:15:59 in order to qualify for Boston). There was hope. I got excited. Max got excited. It was not over yet!!! We waited and waited, checking the clock often. Time went by so slow as we watched runner after runner go by. Where's B? Then, from a distance we see him running down the road! Max started running along on the sidewalk cheering him on and taking photos (what a multi-tasker!). I had Kamryn in the Baby-Bjorn, but do not doubt that I ran over to a different part of the course to continue cheering him on. He made it with just about 1 minute to go. PHEW!

For three, this was Kara's first marathon! She was great and finished strong. As she came down from the bridge, she caught a glimpse of Max, Kama-lama and me. Max said Kamryn's hands went crazy when she saw her Mama running towards us! Kara was thrilled to see us, especially her baby girl so happy to see her.

When all was done, there was a mix of problems experienced by the family runners, ranging from bloody blisters, raging bowels, dehydration, shivering, tears, aching body parts, and sheer exhaustion. DESPITE all of these, I had a sense of "I could run a marathon; it's totally do-able." I was not phased or scared by the "side-effects" of running a marathon (or a half-marathon at that). I've ran a couple half-marathons before, but it's time to do the marathon. I've always talked about it, but now I'm going to make it happen. The best part? I'm getting a SWEET watch to motivate me and keep me on track. After the analysis of "The Watch", presented by Brent, I was sold. I have to have one! Look HERE.

And now that I've publicly announced that I'm GOING to run a marathon, it's necessary that I do what I say I'll do. Which marathon? The California International Marathon in December.