Whidbey Island Half-Marathon

On Sunday Andy, James and Holley ran the Whidbey Island Half-Marathon. This was the second half-marathon for Andy, I'm not sure how many for James, and the first for Holley. They were up and raring to go by 7:30 a.m., with the race starting at 8.

Here they are before the start. James and Andy are predicting their places. Holley is just focusing on finishing the race.

I got to be official babysitter and photographer. Here are the kids eating their race day breakfast. Cereal with milk on the side, and fruit for later.
The boys are proudly showing off their cereal.
You might have to click on this picture to make it bigger and see the guys. They are the two in front that are dressed exactly alike. Twin runners.
Since I didn't know where Holley was in the pack of runners I just kept clicking and hoping to get her. I got her! Can you find Holley? This is something like Where's Waldo. Hint: She's in a red jacket.
I quickly moved to downtown Oak Harbor so I could be close to the finish and luckily got a good spot to see everyone come through. This is around the 6 mile mark and Andy is in 3rd place.
This is James in the same area in 6th/7th place.
And Holley closes out the group, doing great. I told her she looked good and she just gave me a smile that said "I'm in pain!"
Once I saw them all pass by I headed to the finish. Andy came in third place with a time of 1:17:20! He was first in his age group. What a great accomplishment with an average of 6 minute miles! Good job, honey! Read the Whidbey News Times account here.
James came in 7th with a time of 1:24:58! He was also first in his age group. This is definitely a personal best for James, over 30 seconds PER MILE faster than last year's Bellingham Bay Half-Marathon. Way to go James!
Holley came in 644th with a time of 2:17:39. She was 73rd out of 158 people in her age division. This is amazing because this is her first half-marathon and she got sick and wasn't able to complete two weeks of crucial training. I don't know how she pulled it off. Her new title is Wonder Woman.
I had to post this picture of Holley and Sommer. Sommer is our spin instructor at the gym. She has a little boy who is just between the boys and Ayden in age so we have gotten to know her a little bit. I happened to see her finish the race (just having chatted with her husband a few minutes before). As she was coming up to the finish she held up a sign that said "We are pregnant!" to let her husband know that she had just found out (that morning at 4 a.m.!) that she was pregnant with their second child. How exciting is that? And wasn't that a great and creative way to tell her husband?
Here are the victorious group. Congratulations Andy, James and Holley! I am so proud of all of you.
While we were waiting for the award ceremony for Andy and James the boys decided to wrestle on the grass.
While Ayden practiced her pouty model look. She does it well. This is her new thing to do when I want her to smile for a picture. Don't know where she learned it.
Look folks! We have award winning runners in our midst!
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What a great day. The next big milestone is the Vancouver Marathon the first weekend of May. This is where James has to qualify for Boston. After this race, it will be no problem. He is going to smoke Vancouver. Do I hear #1??? :)