DAY 88: The culmination of all our efforts...

Yes, it's MARATHON DAY!!!

Kendra, Ben, Jenna, & I all finished the marathon and were proud to have accomplished such a feat as to have run 26.2 miles!

The times...
Jenna  4:31:38
Ben  4:48:43
Athena  4:55:10
Kendra  4:55:11

To check out all the complete results, go to http://sites.google.com/site/bobpottsmarathon/home and click on "2011 Marathon Results".  We appear in some pictures, also, so be sure to find us!!

Encouraging quote from my runner friend, Justin:  "I hope you appreciate the greatness of what you have achieved.  It's something that not a lot of people can achieve.  Even those that set out to train for 26.2 end up giving up because of the difficulty.  Hopefully you stick with this running deal and continue to enjoy it."

Car ride to the marathon's start!

Las chicas before the race...

Running buddies!

At the start!

Running now (and for the next like 5 hours!)

Jenna, Kendra, & I after the marathon

With our finisher's medals!!

 And now for the video...

WE FINISHED!!!!


WE ARE ALIVE!!!


More details on the marathon to come... thanks to all who came out to support us today--dads, brothers, grandpas, friends, coworkers... the support was awesome!  Thanks also to those who prayed for us, we needed that greatly too, and that for sure got us through the marathon!  You guys are the best!

FREAKING OUT!!!!!!!!!

Kendra, Ben, & I are staying up WAY TOO LATE after eating WAY TOO MANY CARBS... we're freaking out a ton about this marathon!!!

Jenna is in bed sleeping like a good marathon runner should be.  Ben is researching Oprah's marathon time so he can try to beat it.  Kendra is catching up on the blog.  And I'm concerned about the weather for tomorrow's big race - ahh!!

Okay, it's bedtime... Hope to see a bunch of you along the way or at the finish line!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Preparing our meal full of carbs...

EATING!!!

Day 87: Trestle Adventure!!!

"Let's all pick flowers" and Jenna picks roots & all!

After our exploration run!

Day 86: Back to Two

According to the marathon training book, the week before the big race is to be spent resting.  That's right, not a run.  We are slightly afraid, however, that our legs will forget how to move, so we planned to run once or twice this week, but only two miles at the most.  Tonight, Ben and I took one last run from the track headed to grandma's house.  It was bitter-sweet.  Sweet in the fact that we got to turn around way before grandma's house, and bitter that we even had to run at all, haha.  No, it was a rather pleasant run.  I think I almost enjoy running 2 miles now.  

Posted by Kendra 

Day 85: Countdown = 1 Week!!!

Athena's Five Miles:

Kendra's Five Miles:


Since Athena took a new companion running with her on this last 5-miler, I thought, "Hey!  I will too!"  So I took a new friend of mine, Sarah.  I met her last fall, never knowing that she was a runner.  Of course, at that time, I was not a runner (am I yet?) and so would never have thought to ask her about her running experience.  So at this second meeting, I find out that Sarah has run a marathon in the past!  Upon that discovery, I promptly began picking her brain about preparing for the race.  I was excited when she said she wanted to run with me this weekend and I anxious for more time to ask last minute questions on marathon training...


We ran for about 48 minutes, without a mapped-out route.  It was the middle of the afternoon and quite warm.  We covered several topics on that run and thoroughly enjoyed the time together and the new scenery, despite the fact that we were running.  Oh well.  Thanks, Sarah, for a fun"long" run!

Day 84: Our Last 3 Miler!

With the approaching of our marathon, this evening we were down to one of our last runs, which also happened to be our very last 3 miler before the marathon.  Kendra, Ben, & I met at Kendra's Grandma's house, ran to the school, and then ran back - our typical 3 mile route.

Zeus joined us again, and when he pooped a HUGE poop just past the half mile mark, I handed the dog off to Ben (for some reason Ben preferred running with the dog over carrying the big bag of warm & mushy poop... hmm!).

Ben & Zeus took the lead with Kendra & I close behind.  We have no clue what our time was because Ben forgot his watch or left it in his truck or something... haha!

Day 83: A good distraction...

Today's run involved just Kendra & I... and Zeus again!  When I was leaving the house to go running, he looked at me with those sad puppy eyes, so I decided to bring him along.  He was EXTREMELY excited, so obviously he didn't mind the last 3 miler too much!

We started at Kendra's grandma's house and did our typical 3 mile route.  I had the dog for the first 2.5 miles approximately, but when I ended up having to carry a bag full of poop, Kendra took over with Zeus.  She decided (and I agreed) that running with Zeus is a good distraction from the run itself, simply because - especially with wild Zeus - you really have to focus on where he's going and on controlling him so you don't trip over him, as well as encourage him to keep running if he gets tired.  It makes the run seemingly go faster.

Well, without a watch and with a break to clean up dog poop, we can't really say how long it took us to run the 3 miles... eh, oh well!  :)

Kendra, Zeus, & I after our run!

Day 82: Walking the Dog

Tonight our newest running buddy joined us: the Zeusinator!  (Otherwise known as Zeus, Zeusy or Zeus Marie Gibble)  Athena's dog has never run with us before, but did quite well on our 3 mile jog tonight!  On the first half mile he was rather fascinated with anything along the sidewalk, but as his energy waned, he became a little more like the relaxed running companion Athena always hoped he'd be.  : )  Toward the end of mile two, he was really starting to drag, so the Alpha Male of the pack (Ben's self-appointed title) took the lead.  Zeus definitely seemed to get more energy while chasing something, instead of leading, haha.  Personally, I think poor Zeus just couldn't stand looking at Ben's combination of bright orange knee-socks with fluorescent green sneakers...


Athena, Ben, Zeus and I finished the run in 28 minutes.


Posted by Kendra

Day 81: Two weeks and counting!!!

Yes, it's true... the marathon is almost upon us, so our training schedule is giving us a "cool down" of sorts.  Check out our second to last training video!!