Sunday, July 19, 2015

2015 Revel Rockies Marathon

July 19, 2015 6:00 AM
Denver, Colorado

Time Pace Division Division
Place
Gender
Place
Overall
Place
Bib #
Owen 3:34:02 8:10 M40-44 29/70 119/389 164/783 3533

Written by Owen:

I am so far behind on blog entries, that I am going to have to let the pictures tell the story for the most part.  This trip was so much fun, along with the most driving I've ever done in such a short period of time.

To save money, we decided to drive to Denver, Colorado, from Charlotte, North Carolina.  Plane tickets for five people was just too much.  So we rented a car and did the long trip.  We were gone a week, but four solid days of that was nothing but driving.

Thursday, we drove from Charlotte to Warrenton, Missouri.  It was such a long drive, when we finally got there, I couldn't believe we had that long to drive the next day as well.

The kids didn't have a lot of space, but they did great.  They rotated positions at each rest stop.
 Friday, we drove from Warrenton, Missouri to Denver.  Along the way we stopped and had a great meal with Malissa's friend, Jen, from when she lived in Yuba City, California in high school.



 Late Friday, we finally made it to Denver!  It was such a long drive, but so worth it.  We met our great friends Jay and Aimee Fass, who drove from Clinton, Utah to meet us there for the weekend.  Their daughter Malya is Alicia's very good friend.

Alicia and Malya picked up right where they left off in Utah

Aimee and Malissa having coffee together vs. every day on their phone calls

Kids in the pool
 On Saturday, the boys (Michael, Kyle, Jay, and myself) got up and went to the expo to pickup my race packet.  While we were doing that, the girls (Malissa, Aimee, Alicia, and Malya) went to get their nails done.


Then we went to the "Cherry Cricket" for a good (loud) meal.
 Sunday morning I woke up very, very early. Malissa drove me to where the shuttle would take me to the start.  I got there as the first shuttles were opening their doors and got on one.

The shuttle took us up the mountain, and after a while the bus driver announced he was lost.  We were in the mountains, nobody had a signal on their phones, and the road was way too skinny to turn around.  We came upon a "Road Closed" sign.  The driver and a few runners got off the bus to go look ahead of the sign, and realized it was there to prevent traffic from driving on the course.  So they moved the sign and we got back on the right track and made it to the start.

Once I was at the start we waited for 6:00 am to get here, which was the scheduled start time.  They announced they were having some shuttle problems and the race would be delayed.  Come to find out, the shuttle company didn't send enough, so the last 100 or so marathon runners didn't make it and most of the half-marathon runners didn't get to run.  I couldn't believe it.  With all that goes into training for a race, and traveling, I couldn't imagine if I was one of those that didn't get to run.

At the start
 I had set a pretty foolish goal to try and break 3 hours in this race, but I knew going into it, that was out of the question.  It was an all downhill course, but I wasn't fit enough to run that fast for 26.2 miles.  So I just ran.





At about mile 13, my ankle really started to bother me.  The road had left to right slope, so my ankles were always at a weird angle.  With the downhill pounding, it really started to take a toll.  I had to run/walk.  My watch was set to beep every half-mile so I would try to make it to the next beep, then walk for 30 seconds or so.


Waving at my supporters



The last little bit was actually uphill, that was a cruel joke.


I sure look forward to Alicia's wonderful foot massage after each marathon
The next morning we had appointments to get new tattoos.  I got a one about the Boston Marathon I ran, and Malissa got a bible verse on her side.




Then we went to a Colorado Rockies game.  We sat in the cheap seats, but had a great time.



On the way home, we stopped at the Arch, and actually went up inside it.  That was a lot of fun.





















Garmin Data:

Saturday, July 4, 2015

2015 Peachtree Road Race 10k

July 4, 2015 7:30 AM
Atlanta, Georgia


Time Pace Division Division
Place
Gender
Place
Overall
Place
Bib #
Michael 40:44 6:33 M1-14 12/1,116 515/27,209 564/54,796 1599
Alicia 1:07:43 10:54 F1-14 245/934 8,793/27,587 23,187/54,796 J35290
Owen 1:07:44 10:54 M40-44 1,786/3,209 14,403/27,209 23,210/54,796 A3878
Kyle 1:25:11 13:43 M1-14 798/1,116 21,337/27,209 38,820/54,796 L43340
Malissa 1:25:11 13:43 F30-34 2,412/3,374 17,482/27,587 38,817/54,796 M47338

Written by Owen:

We look forward to running Peachtree every year.  This was the first year that all five of us ran it.  Even Graycie got to come (not run).



We stayed with Malissa's brother, Michael.


We did some sight-seeing of where the Whaley's grew up.




Inside Malissa's old classroom


This year, we skipped the Atlanta hotel and stayed with Michael in Phenix City, Alabama.  We actually slept in his neighbor's house for whom he was house sitting.  So we got up at zero-dark thirty and drove to Atlanta the morning of the race.

On the train heading to the start.
 I ran with Alicia, Malissa ran with Kyle, and Michael ran by himself.







It started raining as we were waiting for the start.  As Alicia and I were about mile 1, the lightning and thunder started.  We finished the race as normal, in the rain.  Come to find out, Malissa and Kyle, who started in a corral behind us, were forced to take shelter in the nearby mall.  So they got a very late start and ran in worse weather than we did.

I loved every minute of running with Alicia for her first 10k.  She did great!






At the finish, reunited with Michael, waiting for Malissa and Kyle
After the race, we drove back down to Columbus area and celebrated the 4th.





While staying at Michael's neighbor's house, we fell in love with one of their dogs.  She was so sweet and always wanted to be in our lap.  Michael said his neighbor was actually looking for a new home for her.  We very seriously considered it, but made the difficult decision that we needed to stay a one-dog family.

The kids were awakened by Mike's neighbor's dogs

Even Graycie was exhausted on the way home.
Michael's Garmin Data: