Marathon

 As some of you know, Tom ran . . . err . . . participated in a marathon this past weekend for which he did not train. When I say "did not train" I mean the last time he ran was 3 weeks ago and it was for his two mile PT test. Prior to the PT test he had been running a couple of miles a couple of times a week on and off throughout the summer and fall. So why, you ask did he "run" this marathon? Well, it's kind of a long story but I will try and make it short.

Tom has never had the desire to run a marathon. Not because it seemed like a hard unattainable goal (he does have a desire to train for and do an iron man triathlon, which includes a full marathon at the end). His lack of desire stemmed from his belief that in fact it wouldn't really be that hard and that he really doesn't like running that much. To put it in my words a marathon just wasn't enough of a challenge for Tom.

 Of course, that was before I found the Pikes Peak ascent and decent 1/2 and full marathon race. That's right, it's a half marathon up, gaining almost 8000 feet, and then if you want to do the full marathon you run back down. Now this seemed like a challenge Tom was up for. The only catch, you have to have a qualifying time of under 5 hours to enter. Hence Tom's sudden desire to run a marathon. I tried talking him into just doing the half, I had no doubt he could pluck out 13.1 miles but I did have reservations about 26.2. Unfortunately some men, my beloved husband included, have this thing called an ego. So full marathon it was!

I had no doubt that mentally Tom could could push through and finish. However, I had major concerns about his body not being able to do it (you know because he hadn't trained at all), resulting in some kind of major injury. Any guesses as to how he did?

4 hours and 40 minutes with no major injuries! (Just sore muscles and some nasty blisters.)He admitted that he did have to walk at times and to quote him, "I guess a marathon is harder than I thought." One thing I love about my beloved is he eats humble pie with a lot of grace. Oh, and now that he qualified to do both the ascent and decent, he is opting for just the ascent. Apparently, he just wanted to have the option to do both.

Waiting for daddy to cross the finish line can really wear a girl out!