Sturgis Falls Half Marathon

Austin has been running as part of the Iowans for Africa marathon training team program at our church for the last three months.  The program was set up to run the half marathon at the Sturgis Falls celebration in Cedar Falls today.  Another one of the items on our bucket list was to cheer him on.  I was really nervous about it because the race started at 7:00am and neither kid had woken up before 8:30am for the past week (we're definitely on a summer schedule).  They didn't fall asleep early the night before, either.

Despite all my worries, however, everything went absolutely perfect.  The weather was gorgeous.  I planned on setting up at Gateway Park, which was a loop around mile 11, by 8:15am.  Emily woke up naturally with a small bloody nose around 7:15am right as I was going to wake her up anyway.  Lincoln was halfway awake, too.  They happily got ready, and we arrived plenty early.  We saw Austin twice as he made the loop by the park.  Then we high-tailed it back to the van and were able to catch him again a couple blocks before the finish line.  Click on the collage for a closer view of the pictures.

Austin did great and finished in 1:53.  His goal had been to be under 2 hours.  Emily was pretty excited about the whole thing and declared several times, "I think Daddy won because he was the fastest!"  She also loved the finishers medal he received.  I took the kids to church while Austin went home to shower and rest.  Emily wore the medal to Sunday school and told everyone there how her daddy won the race. :o)  Also a note about her sign: I obviously wrote "Go Daddy!"  She then decorated it by writing "Go Daddy now!"  She also drew a picture of a flower and a disco ball because she said everything needed a disco ball.  Okay then.  Not sure where that come from!  There are also some race-inspired videos in the June player.

We're all so proud of Austin and this significant accomplishment!