Sam Ran a Marathon!

Sam ran the Mesa Falls Marathon last Saturday. (That just sounds like way too casual of a statement for how amazing of an accomplishment this was for him!)

Getting ready to start at 6:30 am. 

The kids and I were lucky enough to be able to drive almost the entire course and cheer him along at stops along the way. The first 10 miles or so were on a dirt roads that they wouldn't let cars on, so we stopped and waited until he came out. Then we stopped every couple of miles and cheered for him as he ran by. 

This was at 11 miles I think. ^

17 miles and about to go up the big hill!

We entertained ourselves with plenty of snacks. Ellie was quite proud of how she could balance the apple on her tongue like that.

After we cheered Sam on at 20 miles, I figured we had better get to the finish line because I wasn't sure how close we would be able to park, how long it would take all 4 of us to walk to the finish line, etc, and I didn't want to miss him coming across the finish line! It ended up that we got to park really close, so we had awhile to sit and wait. Jonah was so funny because he just kept clapping. And Nathan kept throwing dirt on me... So that was fun.

Ellie used her "binoculars" to watch for Daddy.

There he is! 4 hours and 31 minutes. He did it!

Yay! Trying to stretch out his legs while the kids ran around eating all of the food he got after finishing... Typical kids. And of course Ellie had to wear his medal.

I was so proud of him for finishing! He was really sore for a few days afterwards of course, but he hiked Table Rock on Saturday with his scouts... So I guess he is partly back to normal. We will see if he wants to run it again next year!