13.1

last weekend my husband joined the 13.1 club. you know what club i'm talking about. you're driving down the street and all of a sudden you notice the car in front of you has one of these stickers:

yep. that's right. the person in that car ran 13.1 miles. a half marathon. couldn't quite make the full marathon, but they ran a half. okay, okay, not to offend anyone with a 13.1 sticker, or even downplay a half marathon . . . peter and i always just thought seeing those cars drive by was kind of funny. not that running a half marathon is any small feat. it is not. actually, in my opinion, it's a really big deal (i don't think i've ever run more than 3.5 miles in my life. and that was huge for me.). anyway. back to peter.

about 6 weeks ago, peter decided that he would run the half marathon at a neighboring army base. so, he began training, and well, he did it. like it was nothing. hello. that's my man. just ups and runs 13.1 miles like it's no big deal. oh yeah, and his finishing time was much faster than any of his training runs. he's pretty awesome. especially considering the conditions.

the evening before the race, everyone from his air force base that was planning on running was bussed over to the army base around 4pm. then they were dumped into this tent, where they had some lush, comfy cots set up for them to sleep:

the morning of the race, they woke up bright and early to register for the race at 4:30am. then, peter got to wait a few hours (since it was a full marathon that one could either run solely, or split with another person) until the race started and his partner finished the first half. by the time peter started it was getting very windy. here peter is right before he began running:

and who doesn't like to run with a scarf wrapped around their face to be protected from the wind and sand??? makes for perfect race conditions. yeah right. i would've hyperventilated i think if i had tried to run with that thing around my face. i can barely breathe while i run as it is . . . this picture peter took of himself mid-run. notice the lovely scenery. at one point he even ran by a squadron doing tank drills.

and here's my stallion after completing his first half marathon. what a babe. (they're required to wear those safety belts btw.)

and to congratulate him on a job well-done, he had this little video waiting for him in his email after he finished (please ignore our morning faces . . . ):

good job, peter!!!! we love you!!!!