He did it!

On May 15th Jared ran in his first full marathon! We spent the weekend in Ogden and my awesome sister and her hubby came along for the weekend too. Friday we spent getting checked into our hotel, finding out all of the last minute details about the race, eating out and then trying to get to bed early. Jared and I both got very little sleep. He was very anxious about his race and I was just as anxious if not more. He woke up around 3am to get ready and had to be on a bus by 5am. The bus then took the runners to the starting point where Jared had to hang out for about an hour until the race actually started. Jared's good buddy Chad ran in the marathon as well so he was there bright and early too.

I met up with my Jen & Beau around 7am and we headed to the half way point. This would be our first chance to see Jared. We got there early enough to see the very first runner pass by. It was so exciting watching all of the runners pass by and as more and more came we got more and more excited to see Jared. Sadly I did not get a picture of Jared running. He sort of just popped out behind a crowd of runners and I was too busy cheering him on to remember to get a picture. BUT Jared's parents were there with us and his dad got a couple of pictures for me. As soon as I get those I'll post them.

Here we are waiting for Jared to run by at the half way point.

We got Ethan a bike horn for him to honk while the runners were passing by. He loved it!

After seeing Jared at the half way point we headed down to the finish line. I really wanted to see him at least one more time before the end of the race but we were afraid that if we did that we wouldn't see him at the finish line. So we decided to just go straight to the finish line.

At the finish line there was a HUGE crowd of people. I was really worried that we wouldn't be able to see Jared but as time went on and more runners finished we found a good spot to stand and wait. Jared had some trouble along the way and didn't finish in the time he had hoped, so as time went on I started to get more and more worried about him. I was also trying to entertain a very tired 2 year old and standing in the hot sun I too was getting very tired. But then I saw him, running down that crowded street of runners and spectators. I was so proud of him and even got a little teary!  We were standing about half way down the block and Jared's parents & sister were at the finish line. So as soon as Jared passed us. I hurried and called his sister letting them know he was on his way. It was so exciting and all I wanted to do was find him and give him a big huge. After fighting the crowds at the finish line we finally found Jared.

Jenny had these awesome clappers that were a crowd favorite. Ethan loved playing with them too.

This weird bird was walking around entertaining the kids. Ethan really wanted to say hi to him.

Here a few pictures of Jared finishing the race. Some of them are out of focus due to the fact that we are jumping and cheering him on. (Jared's dad has a great picture of him at the finish line...I'll post that one soon)

His official race time was 4 hrs. 50 min which I think is great! Here are a few pictures of us just after he had finished the race.

{Jared's family}

{Jared, Jen & Beau}

{Proud wife and son}

Once Jared felt up to moving again we headed over to Gandolfo's for some lunch. Luckily this store was at the finish line and as we were waiting for our food Jared noticed Chad's family waiting. So we ran out and were able to catch Chad finishing his marathon.

Now that it's over and Jared has had a few weeks off he's decided that he'd like to run a few more marathons. He'll be running in the Bryce Canyon half marathon in July and maybe more this year. But he'd like to try again at another full marathon next year. We'll keep you posted!

I also wanted to say THANK YOU to Jared's family and my family for coming to Ogden with us. I know that it meant a lot to Jared and it meant a lot to me too! It was great to have others there with me to help cheer him on this amazing journey.

And if you'd like to see some more pictures of Jared durning the race click HERE!