Run Jeffy run

On Saturday, my dearest husband, my awesome Jeff, ran 26.2 miles. Yup folks, that there father of 6 ran his first marathon.

And to prove it, here is a photo of him crossing the Rock-n-Roll Marathon finish line.

Oh wait, you can't see him. Let me explain why.

Let's start with the back story. Jeff left at 5 am to be at the start line for his 7:30 start time.

The plan was for me and the kids to drive in later and meet/cheer for him somewhere along the way, or preferably, at the finish line.

We left Maple Valley around 9:45 and headed off to Seattle. Luckily we left earlier than planned because his start time was pushed to 7:15 instead. I knew this because we had signed up to receive text messages when he passed certain points along the course.

We finally got into Seattle at 10:45. I thought I kind of knew how to walk to Quest field from where we parked. But as it turns out, I didn't. So me and the kids started following the runners, cuz we figured they would end up near the finish, and I knew we were still ahead of Jeff so we wouldn't miss him.

But after walking about a mile, I watched as the runners went over a bridge that was closed to anyone but runners. Can you say shoot, dang it, darn gum it!? So I asked the police officers who were doing crowd control if they could point me in the right direction.

I'm thinking that they got a kick out of me and my big red double stroller and 6 children all in tow, because they smirked at me as they told me the general direction. Me no likey smirking cops.

So seeing that we now had to double back and seeing that Jeff was now at mile 24, thanks to those text messages, I knew we had to book it.

So me and the kids ran the mile back to where we finally saw the finish line. Woo hoo! We were so happy, albeit a little sweaty, but we had made it with about 5 minutes to spare, we weren't going to miss him!

I had Kate and Julia hold Henry and Nora on their shoulders so that they could see. I got my camera ready to take a picture of Jeff running to his own personal victory, and we waited.

Henry was super freaked out about being on Kate's shoulders. So I put him on my shoulders as we waited. But he continued to freak out, thinking that I was going to drop him. So I offered him the stroller, which he quickly said yes to. But when I tried to take him off my shoulders, he freaked out even more and clung tenaciously to my neck and WOULD NOT LET GO!

So I'm wrestling with him, trying to extract him from me, when I hear the kids scream and say, "Mom! Dad just ran by!"

I dropped Henry in the stroller and tried to get a parting shot as I watched the back of his head run away. The above photo was the result of that effort.

But at least Henry didn't have to sit on my shoulders anymore, little bum.

So after swallowing my deep disappointment, we headed to the family reunion area to meet up with a very tired, but very happy Jeff.

And after the torture I put Henry through, he was obviously glad to see his daddy.

Jeff finished in 4 hours 9 minutes. Not bad for a guy who only started running last summer!

Seriously, some people are just born to do it.

We're so proud of him and all he's accomplished. And we will be there next time as well, cuz even though he couldn't walk very well Saturday evening, he has assured me there will be a next time.

You rock Jeff!!!