I'm a proud wifey!

First of all, I survived my gallbladder removal.  It was actually not as bad as I thought it would be but I will share more on that lovely experience another time.

I'm more psyched to share the story of the incredible race that my husband ran today.  It was his first half marathon and he did awesome! So, so, so proud of him!

We signed up for the 1st Annual Octoberfest Half Marathon in Peru, NY about 2 months ago.  Yes, you heard that right...we.  I was supposed to run the race too but because my gallbladder rebelled I had to DNS the race.  Because running a half marathon 2 days after surgery isn't a wise idea.  And yes, I am also aware that riding in the car for 4 hours and chasing my husband around a half course for 2 hours is not a wise idea 2 days after surgery either.

We headed out of town at 5:45am in a nasty, windy rain storm.  The way Aaron's races have gone this year, the weather wasn't really a surprise, he did his last triathlon (turned duathlon as swimming was out of the question) in Hurricane Irene.  But by the time we got to the start at 8:00am the rain had cleared and the sun was shining.  We headed to packet pickup.  I had debated whether or not I was going to pick up my packet since I wasn't running.  I have an issue with wearing a shirt from a race I didn't finish.  In the end I decided to grab it because there were some awesome coupons and a beer glass in it.  It was actually pretty emotional for me to walk up to the table and explain that I wasn't running so I didn't need my chip or bib.  Shed a couple of tears.

Pre-race photo op!

Only 347 folks were racing today so the time across the line was only 1 minute so Aaron was over the mat fast.  A really great mix of people were there, all abilities, shapes and sizes!

He's the one in the red visor, Garmin ready for operation

We hurried up and got back to the car so we could head out on the course to cheer him on.  The spectators on this little course were incredible.  The course was beautiful but it was on all the back roads around the apple orchards so I was surprised to see so many people out cheering, cow bell-ing and holding up signs.  Really good vibe all around! 

Wide open spaces, the leaves were beautiful!

Mile 7 - Ain't no thing!

After we saw Aaron at mile 7 we headed back to the finish line so we wouldn't miss the big finish.  Because the spectators were all over and it wasn't a completely closed course, traffic was getting a little crazy.  We got back just in time to see the first place finisher come in at 1:14:51.  A 15 year old boy took 5th place overall, finishing in 1:25:26, which can fuel the fire of the debate over "how young is too young to run a half marathon?"  (great blog post from one of my fave bloggers, Shut Up & Run)

Big Finish!

And we didn't have to wait much longer for Aaron to come over the finish line looking incredibly great!  Official chip time was 1:54:42, he had said before the race that if he could do it in less than 2:05 he'd be thrilled.  Well, he killed it.  Big time.  

Did I mention I was so, so, so proud of him? :)