2014 Boston Marathon - Part 1

There is a lot to say about the 2014 Boston Marathon and what an honor it was to be a part of this amazing event, so this will have to be a two-part post.   Brynn and I qualified for Boston last fall at the Big Cottonwood Marathon and came home and immediately registered that day.  The race is popular on any regular year, but after last year's bombings, everyone wanted to be there ... for a little redemption, to "take back" the course.

It was a very quick trip for us.  We flew in on Saturday night, and flew home on Tuesday morning.  The race is on Monday, Patriot's Day.

As soon as we woke up Sunday morning, we headed over to our other hotel (we had one night in an airport hotel), threw on some running clothes and went for a shakeout run along the Charles River.  There were lots of other runners out and some great energy.  It was also Easter Sunday and I felt bad about missing the holiday, but we were so excited, we didn't dwell on it.

It was a beautiful, sunny day in Boston and we saw one of the American elite runners, Desiree Davila out running her own shakeout run.

We headed over to the expo next.  We were told it was a short walk across the bridge, but it ended up being a very long walk, then a trip on the "T".  Not exactly what our legs needed the day before the race.  Definitely more excitement at the expo and its impossible not to spend a lot of time on your feet in that environment.

 This wall was full of signatures from runners.

We had lunch at the Forum Restaurant, which was basically blown up during the bombing last year.  We did not realize it until we googled it - the name had sounded familiar - and then I remembered they reported from right in front of it quite a bit last year.  They had just reopened a few months before.

There were tributes like this all over the city.  I wish we could have made it to the amazing public display they had at the Boston library, but it was Sunday and close.

 One shot of the finish line - we didn't cross it though...bad luck.

 After a long day of walking all around, we headed back to our hotel for dinner and an early bedtime.  This is a fuzzy picture, but this is our pre-race prep.  Lots of things to set up - clothes to wear on the bus and ditch at athletes village, gels, sunscreen, body glide, timing chips, ponchos, etc.  Because of security restrictions, we were not allowed to check a bag at Athlete's Village, so we needed to prepare a little differently.

Part 2 to come...

Big Cottonwood Marathon

This summer has been another summer of marathon training.  Lots of early Sunday mornings sweating it out for a few hours.  But this year I had company!  It was so much fun training with Brynn and we put our training to the test on September 14th at Big Cottonwood Marathon.  Our main goal for this race was to get a solid BQ time so we could go right home and register for Boston 2014 before it filled up.  We accomplished those goals and ran a solid 3:14 on a downhill course.  It was a lot of fun.

Here we are waiting at the top of Guardsman pass for the race to start.  The race did not get started without a hitch.  There were about 45 minutes where we were wondering if it would happen at all.  Here's why:

That's a bus, carrying a bunch of runners, trying to make the turn up Guardsman pass.  Mr. bus driver got himself high centered right over that hill.  This is a problem when the canyon is lined with other buses waiting to bring the rest of us up to the top of the canyon.  It's also a problem when there's no other way up.  We were still 3 miles from the race start, so there wasn't going to be any running up.  After a very amusing 45 minutes of watching a bunch of skinny runners try to push the bus off, while everyone else wandered around in the dark canyon trying to find somewhere to pee, they finally had us walk up 1/2 mile where another bus picked us up and shuttled us all up to the top.  Then eventually the bus was towed off.  We started 45 minutes late.  Oh well.

 The race itself was tricky.  It's difficult to run a course like that and we started out with a bunch of people who were trying to run a 3:05.  We paid for running that fast in the canyon and slowed WAY down after we came out onto the flat/hilly parts.  The last six miles were a bit of a death march - moreso than most marathons.  But it was enough to get both of us a PR and BQ.  It sure was fun to see our families at the finish.

 Now, we will take on a long winter of running in order to line up ready to go on April 21st, the day before Brynn's birthday.  Can't wait!!

Soaking Wet at the Ogden Half

Brynn and I ran the Ogden Half Marathon a couple of weekends ago.  We had been planning it for quite awhile - a nice little night away in our hometown and a good race.  Well, we woke up to pouring rain that unfortunately never let up.  It rained from the time we got off the bus at the start, through the race, then for 30 minutes afterwards when we stood around waiting to get our bags.

It was fun doing this race together, but we definitely need a do-over.  I think I was close to being hypothermic at the end there!  Pretty miserable.  I'm very glad we weren't running the full.

Here is some proof.

Isn't that lovely?  I don't know when she got so much taller than me.  At dinner the night before, we met Jeff Galloway, noted running expert and motivational speaker, or something.  We were eating at the Union Grill and he was spotted by some other runners there.  Nice guy.

Next up is a marathon in September after we train together through the summer.  Can't wait!

That Twin Thing

We try hard not to think of Josie and Piper as a matching set.  We don't insist on dressing them the same, I won't force them into the same activities, and I didn't give them matching names for a reason.  They aren't identical and they are pretty different little girls.  Josie is silly and goofy, breaks out in song and dance on a whim.  Piper is intense and focused, a little quieter with a very tender side.  When I pick them up at preschool, or at the Y, they aren't always playing together.  They are often interested in completely different things.  Yet it's hard to deny their "twinness".  

One example: Josh goes in their room each night to check on them before we head to bed, and this is how he finds them most of the time:

Night after night, they end up in the same position in their crib. And, we noticed a few months ago that, despite the fact that their language was picking up, they still won't say each other's names.  I tried prompting them, pointing at Piper and asking Josie "who's that?"  For some reason, her answer was "dada".  So I asked Josie the same thing about Piper and she said "dada".  Huh?  We tried it over and over and they always came back with "dada" as the answer.  I am certain it wasn't their limited language ability because they say much more complicated words just fine.  I suspect that "dada" was the very first sound they made and they immediately associated it with each other - they did, after all, know each other before we even knew them.

So we started talking about them as "sissy", which they picked up on right away.  They talk about sissy - each other and themselves - interchangeably.  I'll ask Josie "where's sissy?" and most of the time she points to Piper, but sometimes she points to herself.  Last night in the bath, I asked them where Piper was and they both pointed at each other.  I can only guess that they have been so "together" for the two short years of their lives that they still think of themselves as interchangeable. 

A Visit from Aunt Brynn

Aunt Brynn came to visit us late last week and left on Monday.  It was a much anticipated visit.  The girls have been talking about Aunt Brynn for weeks.  I wasn't sure if they knew what we were all talking about, but something must have sunk in because they were definitely excited to see her!  They went right to her and pretty much stuck right by her side the entire time she was with us. 

We did some fun stuff while she was here, including storytime at the library, gymnastics class, the park, pumpkin patch, and the aquarium,  And we also went on a few great runs (my sister is my very best running partner), got massages one day, and went for a shopping trip to Wilmington.  We were pretty busy and packed in the activity each day.  I'm pretty sure we sent her home tired. 

Here are some of the shots from the aquarium down in Atlantic Beach.  This is the third time we have been down there and the girls had a lot more to talk about this time.  They ran around pointing out the fish, turtles, snakes, sea otters, and alligators.  Josie is on a kick where she likes to RUN AWAY from us as fast as she can.  Unfortunately, she did that at the aquarium and ran smack into another little girl, which prompted a complete and total meltdown.  After that, the aquarium wasn't so much fun for her. 

Thanks for coming to visit us Brynn!  We are so glad Christmas and our trip to Utah is only two months away!

Just for fun

Here are some pics we snapped the other day...

 Just looking cute. 

 Walking around the house holding hands. 

 Hello??  "talking" on the phone.  And fighting over it. 

Giving Kisses

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore… but let there be spaces in your togetherness. And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
-Kahlil Gibran
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