Julie Wins at Marathon-ing
We were a little worried about getting on the road in time to beat potential Kansas City traffic, but did not figure on getting stopped for about 20-30 minutes about 10 miles outside of Topeka (aka, Right Smack Dab in the Middle of Nowhere).
It turns out this was because of an "incident." We are still not sure what this "incident" was...
We made it to registration with plenty of time to spare! The Kansas City race was really popular this year (I think I heard around 12,000 entries total) and the half marathon had actually sold out. There were still plenty of spots in the full marathon, though. Julie thought the on site registration process was even easier than figuring out all of the lines to stand in if you had registered online.
View from the hotel! We managed to score a room in the race hotel even though it was last minute - so convenient.
That evening The Very Most Important Decision was deciding what race outfit to wear. The contention was either Shorts #1...
Or Shorts #2.
I agreed with Charlie and convinced Julie that Shorts #1 looked the fastest. :)
Bright and early on race morning! This whole race-day-hotel experience is new to me. Julie informed me that you have to go down and stand in the lobby with all of the other stressed-out runners for a while. :)
At the starting line! The wheelchair division began at 7:00 a.m., followed by the full and half marathon starting at 7:05 a.m. It was still dark.
Julie in her "throwaway" outfit. I was happy I could fulfill a useful function and keep clothes from being thrown away :). That is another thing Julie has taught me about races - never ever EVER do bag check. Judging by the insanely long line we saw people in for bag check afterward, that seems like a good plan.
The national anthem! The track for the song didn't quite work, so all of the runners started singing the words a Capella. It was very touching, and then the announcer must not have heard because he cut into everyone. :)
And they were off! The first part of the marathon goes up to downtown, right past the building where I used to work. I headed to where they swung back at the 2.5 mile mark, near Union Station. Here comes Julie!
Super blurry (and super speedy).
Union Station.
I walked to the other side of Liberty Memorial to try to catch Julie, but at mile 3.3, she was too speedy. :) I had fun watching other runners come by for quite a while and then headed back to the start, aka finish, where I got to see the speedy half marathoners come in. Other than being very cold (I eventually ended up wearing Julie's "throwaway" gear on top of my clothes) it was wonderful - I got to see so many people finish and hang out with different people after their race. So awesome! One of my "online friends" even waited with me to watch Julie finish. It was a little confusing with people finishing the half marathon and the marathon relay at the same time, but by keeping track of bibs we were able to see that when Julie crossed the line....she was the first place marathon female!!
You can see Julie in the red tank below.
A reporter from the Kansas City Star who had taken her picture talked to her in the finish area - he thought she was the first female, too.
Back in the hotel room! A much warmer place to pose. :)
Here is the picture that the reporter took!
And here is the actual article in the paper! It was a very nice article because not only did it mention how Julie was the "repeat winner," the headline mentioned the hills in the course. :)
Way to go, Julie!! We are all so very proud of you!
Will Wins at Husband-ing
I make no secret that Will Always Wins at Husband-ing, and this weekend illustrates why. First, I was scheduled to be in charge of cash at the elementary school carnival that night and Will was going to shepherd the kids around. This changed into Will being in charge of the cash (which was actually much harder than I thought - sorry, Will!!) and the kids shepherding themselves - now that Daniel is in kindergarten things seem so much easier in that regard. Oh. And the bounce houses might have helped. We are so thankful for our awesome friends who made carnival such a fun time for all of the kids this year!!
The next afternoon, Will took the kids to Spooktacular at the zoo, which is a giant pre-Halloween trick-or-treating event at the zoo. Daniel got to go as a ninja.
And Annika, inspired by Dragonvale, was a fierce dragon.
Somehow both of our kids have costumes with masks covering their faces? Hmm. Well, now that they are both in elementary school, they can practically take care of themselves. Just like Lord of the Flies...
Hay bales at the zoo! A great time was had by all and I have only stolen one piece of candy from a child's bucket (so far).
Originally, Julie and Charlie were planning on flying in Detroit for Julie to run in the Detroit marathon; they were going to leave Friday and come back Monday, and we were going to watch Greg while they were gone (with nannies staying with him during the day when we had to work). However, poor Greg got sick on Thursday :(. A last-minute change of plans then ensued with Julie and I going up to Kansas City for her to run the marathon there, Charlie staying home with Sick Greg, and Will holding down the fort at home.
This could only mean one thing....Sister Road Trip!! We hit the road to Kansas City after I was done lecturing on Friday afternoon.
Despite the fact that it was October 18th, there was real live legitimate snow. This still boggles my mind. I still do not recall ever seeing snow this early before.
We were a little worried about getting on the road in time to beat potential Kansas City traffic, but did not figure on getting stopped for about 20-30 minutes about 10 miles outside of Topeka (aka, Right Smack Dab in the Middle of Nowhere).
It turns out this was because of an "incident." We are still not sure what this "incident" was...
We made it to registration with plenty of time to spare! The Kansas City race was really popular this year (I think I heard around 12,000 entries total) and the half marathon had actually sold out. There were still plenty of spots in the full marathon, though. Julie thought the on site registration process was even easier than figuring out all of the lines to stand in if you had registered online.
View from the hotel! We managed to score a room in the race hotel even though it was last minute - so convenient.
That evening The Very Most Important Decision was deciding what race outfit to wear. The contention was either Shorts #1...
Or Shorts #2.
I agreed with Charlie and convinced Julie that Shorts #1 looked the fastest. :)
Bright and early on race morning! This whole race-day-hotel experience is new to me. Julie informed me that you have to go down and stand in the lobby with all of the other stressed-out runners for a while. :)
At the starting line! The wheelchair division began at 7:00 a.m., followed by the full and half marathon starting at 7:05 a.m. It was still dark.
Julie in her "throwaway" outfit. I was happy I could fulfill a useful function and keep clothes from being thrown away :). That is another thing Julie has taught me about races - never ever EVER do bag check. Judging by the insanely long line we saw people in for bag check afterward, that seems like a good plan.
The national anthem! The track for the song didn't quite work, so all of the runners started singing the words a Capella. It was very touching, and then the announcer must not have heard because he cut into everyone. :)
And they were off! The first part of the marathon goes up to downtown, right past the building where I used to work. I headed to where they swung back at the 2.5 mile mark, near Union Station. Here comes Julie!
Super blurry (and super speedy).
Union Station.
You can see Julie in the red tank below.
A reporter from the Kansas City Star who had taken her picture talked to her in the finish area - he thought she was the first female, too.
Back in the hotel room! A much warmer place to pose. :)
Here is the picture that the reporter took!
And here is the actual article in the paper! It was a very nice article because not only did it mention how Julie was the "repeat winner," the headline mentioned the hills in the course. :)
Way to go, Julie!! We are all so very proud of you!
Will Wins at Husband-ing
I make no secret that Will Always Wins at Husband-ing, and this weekend illustrates why. First, I was scheduled to be in charge of cash at the elementary school carnival that night and Will was going to shepherd the kids around. This changed into Will being in charge of the cash (which was actually much harder than I thought - sorry, Will!!) and the kids shepherding themselves - now that Daniel is in kindergarten things seem so much easier in that regard. Oh. And the bounce houses might have helped. We are so thankful for our awesome friends who made carnival such a fun time for all of the kids this year!!
The next afternoon, Will took the kids to Spooktacular at the zoo, which is a giant pre-Halloween trick-or-treating event at the zoo. Daniel got to go as a ninja.
And Annika, inspired by Dragonvale, was a fierce dragon.
Somehow both of our kids have costumes with masks covering their faces? Hmm. Well, now that they are both in elementary school, they can practically take care of themselves. Just like Lord of the Flies...
Hay bales at the zoo! A great time was had by all and I have only stolen one piece of candy from a child's bucket (so far).
Will also held down the fort this afternoon while I went in for work for a few hours to attempt to dig myself out of my giant hole at work. Will rocks, but I'm sure everyone already knows that. :)
I Win at Procrastinating
I still have a zillion tax projects and homework to grade, all for tomorrow, but have I started any of it tonight? Noooo, because clearly updating the blog was far more pressing. I think this means that I win. :)
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