run, run, run

Back at Christmas, John Neal decided he needed to have a race on the calendar.  He had a ridiculous "winter break" that stretched over about 6 weeks in December and January so he was determined to put his time to good use.  (And that made two of us!  I left him honey-do lists each day and was amazed at how much he would get done!  I was sad to see his Christmas break come to an end...) 

He and Scotty signed up for the Birmingham marathon in February.  We made a trip over to B-ham for the weekend and it was FREEZING.  The boys had to go get hoodies just so they could stay warm leading up to race time...so hard.

And they survived!  We celebrated with a little Cracker Barrel on our way out of town for the boy's hard work and the girl's endurance of the cold weather. 

Then in March, John Neal signed up for another marathon. :)  This time it was the Georgia marathon...it brought back fun memories of us running the half-marathon together in 2007.  It was so fun, I've been itching to do another one ever since (read: sarcasm).  I actually did enjoy it, and I am glad I experienced the elements involved in training for a goal like a half marathon.  BUT, I am super slow & I wouldn't say running for two and a half hours is something I would put on a list of things I want to do again.  We can just say I checked that box on the bucket list....

The marathon course took him through Emory's campus which was a neat viewing spot for his parents & me....he was running ahead of schedule so we had to get a move on to our next spot quickly so we wouldn't miss him.  

Little did we know, his quick pace would carry on throughout the race -
he finished with his best time ever!  

His parents and I had a great time seeing him along the route....AND we sure were glad to witness his personal record of 3:05.  Despite the debacle in qualifying for Boston (that is a whole story on it's own....but he missed the new qualifying cutoff by 4 seconds because they changed the rules), it was a huge accomplishment and something I was so proud to see my husband do this year.