First, the marathon. Ben just ran the St. George marathon. In my last post, I stated that we were off to sunny St. George last weekend. Well, sunny it was not. In fact, it was anything but sunny. It was POURING RAIN all day Saturday and you guessed it, all Saturday morning throughout the race. This is the first race they've had in 25 years in which it rained. He finished in 3:47...that's three hours and 47 minutes of running through the cold drizzle. He said the rain was motivation to just get off the course. Just to watch him cross the finish line, I had to buy the kids umbrellas and hoodies. His hands were so frozen that he finally gave up on a protein bar the last few miles as he couldn't unwrap it.
Rain included, it was really a great morning. We were so proud of him and the kids definitely enjoyed screaming for him when he finished. Anna wanted him to win so badly that we finally just told her he did. (Bad parents?) That was fabulous for her. Later, after pondering the achievments of her race-winning father, she said to us, "You know what is so amazing? A lot of people crossed the finish line before Dad, and he STILL won." Amazing. Luke was just satisfied to push his stroller around in the rain. Here are a couple of pix from the day.
Trying to fake a smile...he wore old shoes and he limped for days afterward
Luke with Grandpa Chris
About to cross the finish line. He laughed at this picture because he didn't know he was being photographed and his pain is just so visible. It's hard to fake when you don't know someone's taking a picture. He wore his Obama shirt to "make his contribution" to the campaign. Funny. And even more funny, notice the blood marks about nipple-height on the shirt. For all you Office fans out there, he became my own little Andy Bernard with his chaffed nipples...but his bled through.
Some pictures of the kids at a great park in Beaver. We stopped on the way down for a seriously needed break from the driving.
And finally, Ben defended his thesis this week. He has been so stressed getting to this point. The beauty of it is that his huge prelim exams in November and his dissertation are all he has left. His dissertation is pretty much going to be an expansion of his thesis, so hopefully much of the research will already be done...if all goes according to plan. I am not kidding, when he is done with school...we will not look back...not even give it a second glance.
7 comments:
Hey! I found your blog through Erin and Spencer's. What a busy week! You guys all look so great (even Ben, with the look of pain on his face).
Ben is basically my hero in those pics! The bloody nipples are awesome! Ben can now say that he bleeds for Obama...with his nipples! Yes!
Yes, Ben is my hero too. I watched that epidsode of office but I thought Andy's bleeding nipples were a total exaggeration. Apparently not. Ben, I think you might have just won the campaign for Obama!
Oh Ben, great work! 3.47 is awesome! And the bloody nips...well... if you are voting for Obama than you deserve to bleed a little. Sorry dude, but Obama's got it out for CAFTA and that means Dave and I (and the twins) will be homeless... you don't want that to happen, now do you? Although, come to think of it, that would mean we'd back in the U.S of A--let me think about that one and we can discuss over a nice hot plate of Thai Food in SLC in about 10 days. Sound like a plan?
PS Jamers-- you look gorgeous!
Ben,
Ummm....not sure what to say. Sounds and looks like torture. I would have much rather been on the river -- course you were this summer, damn you! What an incredible few months you've had.
Sorry we missed you this summer.
- Morgan
I laughed so hard when I read about Anna thinking her daddy won the race even though many others crossed the line before him. By the way, I'm glad to know there are Obama supporters out in Utah! It sounds like the end is in sight with his schooling-- I know that will be such a happy day for you guys!
Seeing Ben's t-shirt just made me feel a lot better about moving back to Utah. Sorry, Liz, but Palin? Really?
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