The Woodlands Marathon

Last week we headed down to The Woodlands near Houston for Stephen's first Marathon. Stephen spent months diligently preparing. I am constantly amazed at his speed and endurance. We were all very excited to head down to a new place and see Stephen run. We are blessed to have Stephen's parents nearby and they decided to join us for the trip. A drive with Mike is always entertaining, and this car ride was no exception. Once we got down to The Woodlands we checked into our hotel and then headed a bit further South to see the Houston Temple. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I have never seen such a unique temple. I loved the green spire and the beautiful windows! The grounds were absolutely gorgeous! There was a trail that circled the temple with trees and they were already enjoying the spring flowers. We love all these temples that dot the earth!

The morning of the marathon was wet and humid. I have never experienced such humidity, and I wondered why in the world I did my hair that morning. Our hotel was just down the street from the start line so we headed down shortly after Stephen. We drove past the start line the night before and Stephen showed us where they started. When we got there in the morning however, we were totally confused! We saw a start line going the complete opposite direction and we didn't see another start anywhere. I looked in the coral, but didn't see Stephen. Nancy asked one of the volunteers if the half marathon and marathon were starting in the same place because we were under the impression that they were going opposite directions. The man said, "No, they all start here." Despite feeling that he was mistaken we listened and stood watching these runners start. I watched and watched, but still did not see Stephen! We decided to walk up a little ways, and there it was - the Fidelity Start line for the Marathon, going the opposite direction! We missed his start! We were so disappointed, and a little irritated at the man who gave us false info. We decided to walk and try and catch him at mile 6. We walked a good mile to a road that would cut right through only to find that it was a very busy street with no sidewalks. We were walking with the stroller and thought it would be best to stay alive to watch Stephen cross the finish line, so we turned around! I was completely soaked from the humidity at this point, but we knew that we wanted drive and catch him at mile 14. We headed back to our car and drove along the back roads to mile 14 without any problem. We were so excited to see him! After the race he informed us that he really needed that boost. It made him emotional as he turned the corner to see us cheering him on! After he left we took off to make sure we would catch him at the finish line! We didn't think we would have a problem getting back, but it was clear once we hit a certain point that we were going to be in trouble! We were stuck on a road that crossed an intersection with the runners! My worst fear was coming true…we were going to miss him coming across the finish line! I was freaking out! After Taelee said a prayer we got through the intersection only to find that the road that our hotel was on was blocked off! We weren't sure how much further we had until our hotel, but I didn't care, I would run there if I had to! I parked the car and hauled the kids in the stroller. As we walked across the street we saw our hotel! BLESSING! We were close, we could make it! We hauled it to the finish line. My heart was racing and I was so worried that we missed him. I anxiously watched the half marathoners run across the finish line and a few marathoners come through. It was past his goal time and I was certain we missed him. After minutes of panic I saw his green shirt! I was overcome with emotion as I watched him painfully cross that finish line at 2:55:54! We were so proud of him! He was a little disappointed with his time and said that the last 10k just about killed him! He said he would never do that again, but after a few days he has already been thinking about his next one. He is a runner and always will be! He was 10th place out of 1700 and 1st in his age group! We are so proud of him!

this was what we thought was the start, only to find out that it was the start of the half...

The kids were excited to feed some ducks while we waited at mile 14

"Go Daddy Go!" but Kingston said his sign said "Just keep Swimming!"

Waiting anxiously for him to cross the finish line

After an ice bath we checked out of our hotel, went to Chili's for lunch, and headed home. We made a quick stop at the giant Sam Houston monument. 

Kingston found these sticks at the monument and held them like this for hours!