Nookachamps 10K

On Saturday we (this includes the Stellers) headed over to Burlington so that Andy and James could run the Nookachamps 10k. Both guys felt great and were in good shape so we were all hoping for good things from this race!

The pre-race warm up. For Andy it was stretching while Ayden was attached to him.

For James it was dodging the boys as they ran circles around him.
Ready to race!
The crowd. This was a fairly small race which included a 5k and 1/2 marathon in addition to the 10k (10k is 6.2 miles for those of you who don't know).
Getting ready to start.
Try to pick these guys out of a crowd. I think we've spoiled them with all this picture taking. Notice they are the only ones paying attention to the cameras?
The start.
And they're off!
I caught James running past, not sure where Andy is (notice that he is STILL mugging for the camera? lol!)
While the guys were running we headed back to the gym at the college to let the boys go the bathroom and then we headed out to see the 5k racers finish. Not too long after we got out there we heard one of the race volunteers say, "The first 10k runner is coming." We kept looking around and could hardly see anything because of the fog. Finally Holley asked, "Is that Andy?" and sure enough it was! Out of the fog, he came running in, the winner of the 10k race!! He ran it in 36 minutes 38 seconds. He had even estimated it would take him about 37 minutes to finish the race.

Woohoo!! Way to go Andy!! Great job on winning! I'm so proud of you! (like you couldn't tell from all those exclamation points, huh?)
Finishing it up.
As I got closer to congratulate him I noticed his hair and eyelashes looked funny. Well that's because they actually have iced up!! It was in the 30's and with all the moisture in the air and from them running he actually had ice in his hair and eyelashes.
We were busy congratulating Andy when James ran past and we almost missed him (you can just see his head and arm past the woman behind the yellow pole). James' official time is 38 minutes 59 seconds, way to go on beating the 39 minute mark!! James had estimated his time to be around 40 minutes so both guys were spot on their estimates! James won second place in his age division (which actually was a larger group this time because his age group was 30-39, whereas they usually do 30-34, so he actually beat a greater amount of people!), and he came in fourth overall.

Woohoo! Great job James!!
Just finishing up, way down at the end in the blue shirt.

He also was 'frosted' from the run. He looks like he has gray hair!
Andy getting his award for first overall and first in his age division.
James getting his ribbon for second in his age division.
The winners!

Congratulations to both of you on a wonderful race. Here is to the first of many, many to come!