Air Force Marathon September 2010 part 2

Continued from the previous post!
I've mixed in some of the professional photos in here.

Me and Rachel runnin'.

Here we go - goin' through the town.

Can it really be true?? Mile marker 25? Almost there!

One last turn... mile marker 26!! Now for the run through the planes!

6 hr 56 min and 7 secs later... we finish. Yep thats right - ALL of us finished together!

And this is what our medals look like.

After we finished the marathon - we parted ways. Rachel stayed one more night, but me and Jacob took off to get back to Maryland. Not such a good idea. We were so sore, and tired. Won't do THAT part again. But we finally made it home at like 3 AM... something like that. And it was nice to see that Jacob's family had decorated the living room with streamers and a banner, and some cards. Went to church the that morning, then I was off to the airport. It is sad to leave, but I would be back in a littl eover a month for a class.

Once I touched down in San Luis Obispo airport, first thing I did was put my marathon magnet on my car. I will surely drive this thing around with pride now. So if anyone sees a sticker with a '26.2' on it. It means they completed a marathon.

Two weeks after the marathon, I finally get my shadowbox. This was such a great experience. Thanks Rachel and Jacob for going, and making it fun - and we didn't let each other quit.

Air Force Marathon September 2010 Part 1

The time has finally come to make the trip out to Maryland.

From there me and my brother Jacob drove out to Ohio to run in the Air Force Marathon.
The drive was nice for the most part. We did run into a little rain and some construction.
Jacob caught some good shots of the clouds.

Rachel met up with us too. We all went to the first ever Director's Breakfast. It was good.

They had some great guests, and speakers.

One of the guests was Mr. Bob Schul. He won the Gold Medal in the 1964 Olympics in the 5,000 meters.

At the civic center we attended the Chi-Running clinic. We got some great tips, and ideas on how to improve our running techniques.

And then that night we went to the pasta dinner. Definately good. And being in the Air Force museum was good too.

Well, we went back to the hotel room, and prepared for the next day - charging ipods, writing on arms... this was Rachel's arm. One thing we were told at the Breakfast is that it is a good thing to write down reasons to inspire you while you run. Unfortunately Rachel's 5&6 mile didn't work out. They ran out of Chick-fil-A by the time we finished the marathon.

Jacob was excited that he got his bib.

And a little silly...

September 18th. MARATHON DAY!! I've been planning and semi-preparing for this day since January.

We had to be there early. And we can't forget the parking mess we went through. It was crazy.

After the B-52 fly-over, it was almost time to start.

Are we ready?? Well, its a little late for that - isn't it.

No way!! The Balloon Classic is this weekend??

The last day in Colorado started if with getting up really early, and heading out to the Balloon Classic. I remember getting up early as a kids and going to this. It was so nice to see the balloons, and feel the nice cool morning air.

There were some huge hampster balls, and you could get in and run around in.

Huh?? You say somethin Josh?

Hey - its the 'when pigs fly' balloon.


Ah... look at these two.

After a quick stop by Waffle House, we went by the ol' house on Branding Iron.... wait -what is that? That is a new building/home across the street.

And for dinner? Josh and Shaleese seem so happy to partake in our tradition, thats not an official tradition of going to Golden Corral.

Then Me, Josh, Shaleese, and Gerald headed up to the Air Force Academy.

Now, this display in the visitor's center. I don't know why this looked weird - but if anyone can tell me WHY the scientist is smiling as he is touching the rat...

Ah-ha! I caught Gerald checkin' out the Air Force stuff.... could we get him to by some Air Force stuff from the Gift Shop?? How could he object - everything said 'Falcons' on it.

A quick stop by the Cadet Chapel.

And oh - from yesterday. Josh and Shaleese had a great idea to get something for Jessica and Gerald and family something nice for the sealing. We up with this. It was a GREAT idea. They loved it!