Rock n' Roll Marathon

Chris has been training for months for his first official marathon.  You may remember back in May that he ran in an unofficial marathon but he still wanted to run an official marathon.  Plus he did proper training for this marathon.  He chose the Rock n' Roll marathon because every couple of miles they have cheerleaders or a band playing to help keep you motivated. We all made signs to help cheer Chris on and hopefully cheer on the rest of the runners.

The runners really seemed to like this one.

I had someone stop me and ask to take a picture of this one.

Our biggest comment from runners was they wanted to know if the Chuck Norris sign was true.

I did have to stop and take a picture of the sunrise coming up in front of the arch.

Our plan was after we saw him cross the start line we would meet him at around the 11 mile marker.  Chris had told us where we needed to be at and after we cheered him on and several of the other runners we headed that way.  The only bad thing is when you aren't familiar with a city and all of the streets are closed for the race, it becomes very frustrating trying to get there!  We eventually did find where we were supposed to meet him but after we received a text saying that he was at the 13 mile marker we realized that we were in the wrong spot.  I guess the half marathoners and the full marathoners split at the 10 mile mark and you couldn't see that on the race map.  I'm sad that we didn't get to cheer Chris on but all of the runners who saw our signs LOVED them.

Once we realized that we had missed Chris we decided to head back to our hotel and walk to the finish line to meet him.  Our hotel was located right next to the NFL football stadium and they were having a football game that day.  All of the streets leading up to our hotel where closed and we had to pay to park 6 blocks away to make it back to our hotel.  I bet we ended up walking 4 miles that day!

Chris crossed the finish line in 4 hours and 59 minutes.  His goal was to be finished in less than 5 hours and he just made it!  I'm so proud of how hard he's been working towards his goals.  He's already training for the Little Rock marathon in February and he has several more races planned for next year.  I told him that he needs to start picking races in cities that we've never been before so we can plan a vacation around it.

Meet me in Saint Louis

Last month we took a long weekend trip and drove to Saint Louis so Chris could run in the St. Louis Rock n Roll marathon.  Since Chris and his parents had never been before we thought we'd make it into a mini vacation.  We drove up Friday morning and hit the outlet mall right outside of Saint Louis. After spending the afternoon shopping we headed to our hotel and then went to the convention center so Chris could get checked in for the race.  When we got finished with the running expo we got some dinner and then did a little bit more shopping.  We finished the night at Schafly's brewery with drinks with Chris's coworkers.  I'm not a beer fan at all but I will say that the Pumpkin Ale was to die for!!

Saturday we woke up early and drove to Grant's Farm.  It is owned by Anheuser-Busch and that's where some of the Budweiser Clydesdales are stabled.  We were hoping that we'd be able to book one of the Clydesdale tours but they were all sold out.  We did get to go into the stables and see the horses and pet them.  We also took the tram around the grounds and got to sample some free beer.  When we finished with Grant's farm we drove to the Budweiser brewery to take one of the free tours of the facility.  Since we didn't pay for one of the more extensive tours, the tour that we took was really basic. After the tour we ate at restaurant across the street that used to be an old police station.

The young Clydesdale is the size of a regular horse!  

This kangaroo kept trying to get a leaf off the tree.

You were able to eat in several of the jail cells and they were using this one for a wedding reception.

We wrapped up the afternoon with another trip to the running expo and then headed to dinner at Charlie Gitto's so everyone running the race could carb load.  I will say that if you plan on eating at Charlie Gitto's make sure and make a reservation a week before.  We had to eat at 4:45 and the owner was really rude about it.  Other than that the food and service was amazing.  Our drinks were never below full at all times.  We wrapped up the evening with a visit to a local chocolate bar.

Sunday was the race and I'm going to skip that part of the day because I'll do another blog entry about that later.  After the race we went to City Museum and I wish that we would have had more time to explore it before they closed.  We did get to go down the 10 story slide and I crawled around in some of the caves.  At one point I thought I was going to get stuck and they would have to call the fire department to get me out!! But thankfully I was able to squeeze my way out! We ended the night with eating some traditional Saint Louis style pizza and of course we had Ted Drewes frozen custard for dessert.

One of the various slides at City Museum.

Monday we woke up early and checked out of our hotel and headed over to the arch.  We wanted to get there early so we'd be one of first groups up in the arch.  If you're going to be in St. Louis it's totally worth going up in the arch.  The views are gorgeous especially during fall.

If you're claustaophobic then you might not want to go up in the little pod that takes you to the top!

View from the top of the arch.

After we finished our tour of the arch we headed back to our car which was parked in the Hyatt hotel parking garage.  I was walking over a metal storm grate when the next thing I know I'm laying sprawled out on the ground!  My foot was the perfect size to fit through one of the grates.  I felt so bad because Chris had to drive home because my ankle was all busted up. It's been 3 weeks and I my ankle is still healing up.

Square to Square

At the beginning of this month Chris ran in the unofficial official ultra marathon called Square to Square.  The reason it's an unofficial marathon is because it's an untimed race with no medals, no time chips, and no entry fees.  It started last year when a group of runners meet at the Bentonville square and ran to the Fayetteville square for fun.  I think 40 people ran it last year and 140 people participated this year.  Mike Rush from Rush Running heads it up.  Since it's not an official marathon it means that there are no aid stations or porta potties.  So Greg and I were Chris's aid stations.  We drove and met him every 5-6 miles to make sure he had plenty of water, GU, gatorade, and whatever else he needed.

The whole group before they started.

He started off really well but as the morning progressed it started to get hotter and hotter.  When we meet him around the 11th mile he asked if we could get him some Aleve. The next stop was at the 15 mile mark and you could tell he was in was major pain.  He said that his IT bands were starting to act up because he really needed new shoes but he didn't have time to break them in before the race.  He said he wasn't sure that he'd be able to finish but Greg and I told him that he could.

5 miles in and going strong. 

11 mile mark

15 miles in. 

You could tell when we saw him at mile 20 that the Aleve had kicked in and he was feeling a little better.  He finished the race in 5 hours and 50 minutes but that also included the 7 stops he made with us to refuel his water and eat.  I know that he's disappointed with his time but I'm very proud of him for finishing it.  Not everyone can say that they finished a 27 mile race especially since only 50-60 people actually finished the race.  The next marathon he has planned is the Rock n Roll marathon in St. Louis this October and I'll definitely be there to cheer him on!

20 miles 

Finally making it to the Fayetteville Square.

Running fanatic

Chris has been a running fanatic the last few weeks.  March 30th he ran the Hogeye half marathon again.  He really wanted to be able to run the full marathon this year but his injury from December set him back a few weeks.  He crossed the finish line in 2 hours and 12 minutes.  He was really excited that he shaved off 20 minutes from last year's race. Right after he crossed the finish line he asked me if I was off the following Saturday because he wanted to run the Bentonville half marathon.  Thankfully I was, so he signed up for it.  I was a little worried since he's never done back to back halves before.

We woke up bright and early picked up Kathleen and headed to Bentonville.  It was colder than the week before but we still met him half way to cheer him on.  He told us he stopped and ate a donut that someone gave him so that upset his stomach!  Even with that he finished 30 seconds faster than the week before.

I'm sad I didn't get a good photo of him crossing the finish line but there were tall people standing in front of me.

Last month he ran in the Russellville half marathon. He decided to run this race since the majority of his coworkers were running and this was their first half marathon.  Plus he really liked the way the metal looked.  He finished this race in 2 hours and 11 minutes.  He really wanted to finish in 2 hours and 10 minutes and he followed the pacer but the pacer was off by a minute.  He realized the pacer was off when he rounded the corner heading for the finish line. Since he's run in 3 half marathons in the last 90 days he qualifies to be a member of the Half Fanatics.

I loved the start line for this race. 

Running Recap

I forgot to post some photos of Chris's run from the Chile Pepper two months ago. The Chile Pepper is a cross country festival that takes place on the UA Cross Country training grounds. We had to park at the fair grounds and then walk a mile to get to the start line. The only bad thing was that it started to down pour on us half way there. Needless to say we were soaked and the 10k was in rain delay. They kept pushing the start back because of all the lightning. It was suppose to start at 7:30 but with all the rain delays it didn't start until 10:30. They also changed the 10k runners to run the 5k because of all the rain delays plus the course was flooded in some areas. Chris took it pretty slow but he still finished in 28 minutes.

I didn't get a good photo at the finish line since it was still raining.

Last month Chris ran in the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis. His Achilles' tendon has been hurting him pretty badly for awhile. He's been icing it and taking it easy on his runs. He's been wearing my compression sleeve when he runs to alveait the pain and swelling. We bought him some new running shoes a month ago and his first run to break them in was the Jingle Bell Run. This course was extremely hilly and he said that it was the hardest 5k that he's ever done. But he finished in 26 minutes and was 2nd overall in his age group and 12th overall.

The next race he ran in was the Turkey Trot which was actually held on Thanksgiving.  Chris's ankle was still hurting him but he decided to run this race anyways.  He wanted to finish in 24 minutes but he finished in 25.  He was upset about this but considering his ankle was hurting him really bad he still did great.

He was scheduled to run the Fayetteville Half Marathon this month but they cancelled the race due to weather conditions.  His has been going to the chiropractor to try to get his ankle better and the doctor told him no running for awhile.  He just had a visit with the doctor a few weeks ago and he has finally been cleared to run. He's been taking it really easy on his runs and he's only increasing his runs just a little. He wants to start training for the full marathon for the Hogeye.  I'm hoping with all of the resting and treatments he's been doing that he'll be able to start back to running full time soon.