I am so proud of Breanna! Earlier this year, she announced that she'd be running the Omaha Marathon on September 25th, and she immediately started training for it. Every day, she and her running partner, Adam, ran neighborhoods, parks, and lakes, all in an effort to be ready to run 26.2 miles on race day.
About a month away from the day of the marathon, her knees started giving her trouble, and after many arguments with herself, she finally decided to shoot for the half-marathon instead. It was a hard decision for her to make, but one I'm very relieved she went with, considering she's only got one pair of knees, and she's awfully young to begin a life of troubles with them.
The longest she had ever run was 10 miles on the beach in California, and other than that, her college and work schedule had only allowed her about 3-5 miles per day, if that. Needless to say, she was very nervous on the day of the race, worried she wouldn't be able to run the entire distance. Heaven forbid she should walk!
We arrived downtown at 5:30 am so they could pick up their race packets and get warmed up… Here we are, standing in line. No, not for the race packets, but for the portable toilets!
Adam took advantage of the waiting to stretch… it was a chilly 40 degrees out, so everyone was probably pretty stiff…
This is Mike's "Don't you dare cut in line" look…
(Just kidding. I have no idea what he was looking at. All I know is he hadn't had any sleep for 24 hours, thanks to his work schedule.)
In the front are the professional runners in uniform. I have no idea where Adam and Bre disappeared to, but the line goes pretty much back to that second set of traffic lights waaaay in the back…
After the runners took off, Mike and I headed to a nearby restaurant for breakfast, waiting until we thought Adam and Bre would be approaching the finish line, and then we headed over there.
I wasn't prepared for Adam to suddenly appear, but there he was! He finished his half marathon in about an hour and 50 minutes or so…
A huge congratulations to you, Adam! Well done!
As Adam headed toward his finish line, Mike and I started anxiously looking for Bre. We waited and looked… then waited and looked some more. Mike started pacing, nervous that Bre had twisted her ankle or passed out somewhere. Or worse yet: that she had started walking. (We had tried convincing her that there was no shame in walking, but she was hearing none of that!)
And then I saw her bright pink Nike shorts. 🙂 "Mike! There she is!" I yelled, bc he had walked a little way away from me. But of course, he'd already seen her, and she'd spotted him, a big smile on her face…
I heard him yell, "GO BRE! GO! YOU'RE ALMOST THERE!" and I started yelling the same thing, while also trying to get pictures…
I wanted to cry, bc it was then that I realized I was so afraid for her that she wouldn't finish. It meant so much to her to reach her goal, and I knew she'd had a lot of difficulty with training for it, so to see her come down the line with a smile on her face and a look of such satisfaction filled me with so much happiness…
It was at this point that I ran as fast as my legs would carry me to try to beat her to the finish line, cutting through hundreds of people. I wanted to get pictures of her crossing, but the way had been blocked off to us, so I stood where I could and got a few blurry ones (thanks to my having a near heart-attack from running so hard).
As soon as she realized that she was so close to the finish line, her head popped up and she took off at a sprint…
GO GO GO, BRE!!!
Her official time was exactly 2:05:00! She placed 490th out of 1,362 runners, and in her age group (20-24) she was 104/202. I was so very, very proud of my girl.
Here's Adam, with his medal.. he was quite ready to go back home and hit the sack…
(My favorite picture of the day…)
Believe it or not, they both said they wouldn't mind doing it again next year. 😉
Congratulations, Adam and Bre!
And I have to add: Bre didn't walk a single step for the entire 13.1 miles. 😉
23 Comments
Debra
Way to go, Bre!!!! A few years ago we drove to Ohio ( from NC) to see our son run his first half marathon. It is an amazing feeling to see them accomplish it. His knees have started bothering him, too, so he now does the shorter 3-5 mile runs.
bsiwecki@comcast.net
Congrulations to Bre! What a wonderful accomplishment:)))
Julie H
Awesome!!! Great job!
Kristen from MA
Rock stars!! That’s quite an accomplishment, and Bre and Adam should be proud!
Also, I want to say how much I admire you and Mike as parents, Paulette. When you write about your girls, I get teary-eyed. 🙂
Sylvia
So proud of both of them!! What an accomplishment.
Littlebit
Oh!! Sniffle!!! I am so proud of Brea..please pass the tissue.
Margaret
Yay for Adam and Bre! Congratulations to them both! I hope Bre’s knees are ok — Smart girl to go for the shorter distance. Yay!!!!
DonnaTN
What a great achievement for both Adam and Bre! And good for her that she didn’t give up totally but opted for the shorter distance when she had knee problems.
Dede
Congratulations to Bre and yes you only have one set of knees so take care of them! Nothing wrong with a 1/2 marathon–not many people will even attempt a mile! Even when they are in high school.
All three of our sons were high school cross country runners..Fun times. The middle son ran in the Omaha Marathon back in 2003 with a couple of his college room mates. We were there to see him cross the finish line! He did a cart wheel! LOL He has not run another one–been to busy with work to train for something as hard as that. It is a great accomplishment in my book.
Lynn
A fantastic accomplishment!! Congrats to both Bre and Adam!
Marika
Oh I got misty reading that !!
Sharon
What an awesome accomplishment! Congrats Bre and Adam!
Katrina
That’s so great!!!! Huge congrats to Bre and Adam :-).
Cari
GREAT !! SUPER DUPER GREAT !! Thanks for sharing….
Linda
Yes, thanks for sharing! Congrats to the runners! My DH usually had to go without sleep for days to work and take part in our kids activities too, but it’s so worth it! Both for the kids and the parents! Sniff, sniff, I know you are both so proud of them! Linda in CO
Cathryn
Bravo and Congratulations to Bre. How much love a father has to go without sleep to cheer on a daughter. Your daughters are so lucky to have the both of you. hugs, Cathryn
Robin Hager
WOW!! I’m so proud of your girl! It takes a lot of work to accomplish what she did. She should be so happy with herself!
WendyMI
WOOOOOT!!!! Congratulations, Bre!!!!
Devon
Way to go Adam and Bre,,I started running about 6 weeks ago..and right now I cant imagine running straight for 13.1 miles..good job..
Siobhan
I am seriously the world’s biggest uber dork, because I’m sitting here with tears in my eyes after reading this blog post. Yeay Bre & Adam!!! That is so great. Congratulations to them both!
Rachel S.
Congratulations!
Valie
Heartfelt congratulations. I don’t even run behind buses… Good job, Bre, you did fantastic !
Terri
I know I’m late but Yayyy Bre I know next year you will do the full marathon.