Phoenix January 14, 2007
Rock n Roll marathon 3:09:03
What a weekend! Well, Julie and I won't soon forget this marathon/half marathon trip. We planned to fly direct from Oklahoma City (an easy 3 hour drive from Newton) to Phoenix on Friday and return on Monday. However, this was the time when one of those ice storms went through Oklahoma. As we neared Oklahoma City, we found out our flight was cancelled! We were rebooked for the same flight the following day; however, we decided that our best option for getting to Phoenix was by DRIVING - there was a good chance the Saturday flight would be cancelled, too. So we hit the road. After many hours of slow driving on icy roads and seeing many vehicles stuck and jack-knifed in the median, we finally drove out of Flagstaff and out of the snow and ice and into sunny and warmer Phoenix. My parents were waiting there to meet us as they had flown in from Ohio. We had a wonderful stay at the Bontragers' house, with mom and dad, and Julie had a very successful day running her first ever half marathon! What fun! (Unfortunately, after it was all over we still had to drive 18 hours back to Kansas!!)
Before the marathon start, Julie and I tried to stay warm in our light-weight running gear on the coldest morning Phoenix had seen in 15 years! We were both excited to get going in our races.
Here I was, running along at about mile 21 when suddenly a man jumped right out in front of me, swinging his arms - it was dad! I would have run right past mom and dad had he not done that to get my attention. That was fun to see them along the course. I missed seeing Julie, but I kept checking my watch to try to guess where she was at that time in the half.
Despite the starting line temp of about 29F, I assumed the sun would warm us all up when it came up. And it did - all the way up to about 36F by the finish line. Needless to say, I didn't dress qute right, but I made it and eventually warmed up!
Here we are, beyond both finish lines! Julie, one of 24,005 half marathon runners, completed the course in 2:20:55! That was 10 minutes faster than her goal! Due to the staggered start time of full and half marathons, I made it in time to see her smiling face cross the finish line. On a cold day in PHX, we both conquered our goals, and we felt very good about it. For me, now it's on to Austin...
