By the skin of his teeth......

But he did it! Chris had a goal back in November to run a marathon in under 4 hours. Well things didn’t go according to plan when he ran New York and it left a bad taste in his mouth. Why a timed goal you ask? I mean yes the goal should just be to finish the race, right? But I get it; the goal of finishing one was accomplished back in 2006 and why do another one if you are not willing to do it better or with a different result in mind. That I understand……

So the goal was set.

“The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare……”

He had a great training and did it with a friend this time, which I think helped. (I am still not sure how he did the entire training for NY by himself but he did.) But some 350 miles later a new Nike I-pod chip, very mild winter weather, some competitive companionship, and he was ready for the race with no injuries!!

The race was up in Traverse City, it is a beautiful course along the bay and they both looked really strong, too strong… as the pit crew was worried they started off too fast a la NYC style.

But they had a set time to reach each mile at and they stuck to it (also very helpful for the pit crew that tried to meet up with them) We were able to get to them 7 times which is pretty remarkable and even run with them! Rob and Chris stuck together most of the race probably up until mile 15 until Rob pulled away a bit, so as we were tracking them down to run the last mile with them to the finish line. I saw Rob, and Nikki quickly jumped in to run him to that finish line…..so I sat there and waited I knew Chris was about 2 minutes behind him but as I continually looked at my stop watch every 3.2 seconds and it was as if hours were passing…..where was he?? I was anxious Annie as I saw his goal fading by the second…..FINALLY I see him.......

….I hop in and run with him and let him know he only has about 9 minutes to play with…..and by let him know I really mean scream at the top of my lungs for him to dig deep and get his *&*^% across that finish line in less than 4 hours……he tells me he has nothing left in the tank…….I continue to scream at him and run very meanly three of four steps ahead of him to try and motivate him to catch me……(as I type this that was just cruel). I would guess that every other participant or spectator probably was ready to report me as an abusive wife, but I didn’t care this husband o’ mine has spent the last year running….and running…..and running…..and running …(catch my drift?) and I wasn’t giving up without a fight. So as we both intently kept staring at the minutes/seconds drifting away when we both saw the end in sight and I finally stopped berating him and let him finish in his own glory/exhaustion/pain……..

3:58!

I was so proud (and relieved) that he worked so hard to reach his goal! Luckily after the race were “stuck” in a Beach Resort town on an 85 degree beautiful day so we were able to celebrate their amazing accomplishments!!

This picture speaks to me because I know at least one of them is thinking......Boston??

If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon. Good work hubbie you shaved almost 27 minutes off your previous time!!