13.1

Dave and his brother Jerrod ran the Salt Lake City Half Marathon this year. It was a great accomplishment and we were all so proud of them! Jerrod is and always has been a natural runner, he can just get up and go for miles. On his first "training"run, for example, he ran seven miles, no big deal! Which does not take away from his accomplishment of 13.1 miles, he just had a head start with training. Dave on the other hand did have to do some good old hard working training. He was dedicated to his running. We were all very proud of him! Finally race day had arrived. So exciting....even at 6am. Ready, set, go!Allison, Kira, and I had made posters to help cheer on our runners. Our first stop was by Highland High. As we watched for Dave and Jerrod we saw a lot of other runners we knew. That was fun--good job everyone! Pretty soon J came by.

And then Dave! Hi!

We cruised up to Liberty Park and got there literally as J ran by, one minute later and we would have missed him. I quickly took Kim and Mama Phillips to the finish line because otherwise Jerrod would finish before anyone was there. I got back just in time to see Dave approaching. Josh and Allison joined him for a minute. Allison thought that was pretty fun to run with Dad. He was doing great and getting close to the end!

The rest of us then headed to the finish line at the Gateway. I got lucky and found a prime spot to watch for Dave.

Mama Phillips, Kim, and Jerrod were up above, ready to cheer.

And here he comes! Down the corridor to the finish line. It was so awesome to be at the finish line. I was getting emotional for all the runners who were finishing, everyone was cheering for everyone, groups crossed the line holding hands, runners were crying, some had huge smiles, it was just a wonderful experience.

But then when I saw my sweetheart coming toward us, pushing himself and knowing what he had accomplished and my heart swelled a thousand times. I was so so so proud of him!

And he crossed the finish line! We hurried to go find him as he cooled down. We hugged and cried for a second and he gave his little girl a kiss. It was a very touching moment.

Congratulations to our runners! You both did outstanding and we were all so proud of you!

This was our cheering crew. Thanks everyone to coming to show your support and enthusiasm. It began to really rain as the boys were having some snacks and chocolate milk (good for muscle healing...who knew), so perfect timing. You boys did so great. You should feel so proud, I know we felt so proud of you.

We love you! Good Job!!!!