This past Sunday, the kids and I watched as Curtis crossed the finish line in his first half marathon. More significantly then that, we watched him work hard towards his goal, push through and injury, not give up, and obtain a goal that he'd set for himself.
The above picture was taken after we arrived to the race location, shortly after I explained the term, "crack of dawn" to the kiddos. Curtis and I got our day started at 5am and by 6am all six of us were bundled up, heading to the starting line.
Curtis had been training with a group of people who were also racing in the Armadillo Dash. They all wore shirts from our local running store, Brazos Running. His shirt happened to match the Brazos running shirt I already had! Don't we look cute in our matching shirts?!
The kids were so excited to cheer their Daddy on! I gather several different ideas for posters, and the day before the race, the kids and I made the signs, with help from a friend. Making posters seems like such a simple gesture, but it really gave the kids a way to be involved and feel like an encouragement to Curtis.
The call came for the 1/2 marathon runners to line up, and the kids and I headed to the stands to see him off.
After we saw him start, we headed to the car to warm up, eat breakfast and kill some time. On our way to the finish line, we had a moment to pose with an armadillo. Who wouldn't want to take advantage of that?!
At the beginning of his training, Curtis was hoping to run the 1/2 in just under 2 hours. Just a few weeks into training, his calf started giving him some problems. He had to back off his training, causing him to feel like he wouldn't be able to break 2 hours. So the kids and I lined up, hoping to see him cross that finish line in less than two hours....
AND HE DID!!! His official time was 1 hour 55 minutes 18 seconds!!!
I'm so very proud of Curtis and this accomplishment! I admire his diligence and hard work.
Notice my shirt change? I had a friend help me make a shirt that said, "My husband can run 13.1, can yours?" Curtis had seen it on line, but I convinced him we wouldn't be able to get it in time and that it was way to expensive. I surprised him at the finish line, wearing it. The plan is that he'll have a similar shirt when I finish my first half marathon.
Gulp.
