Run to the Rock Half Marathon

Last weekend Taber decided to do a very last minute half marathon. He's been training for the Apple Fest half marathon that's coming up in a few weeks so he thought this would be a good practice run. Also, the finish line was at Plymouth Rock where the pilgrims landed so we figured it would be a fun sight seeing trip for the family as well.

When we lived in MN we always ordered Penne Rosa from Noodles and Company the night before our races to carbo load. Sadly they don't have a Noodles out here but I was able to find the recipe online and came up with a pretty decent version of it : ) After carbo loading we packed up the family and took the two hour drive down to Plymouth, checked into a little motel and hit the sack.

The next morning we got Taber registered for the race and then hung out with him at the starting line while he warmed up and stretched with the other runners.

The girls stayed entertained picking wildflowers

And helping Daddy stretch

Then it was time for the runners to line up

As soon as the horn blew Teya and Brinley started shouting, "GO DADDY GO! GO DADDY GO!"

We hung around till all the runners were gone then made our way to the finish line. It took us an hour because we're pretty slow, but we finally got there and settled in to wait. Before we knew it we saw Taber turn the corner and head towards the finish. The girls went nuts and were so excited to see him.

Even though this was more of a practice run he still did awesome and beat his last PR by 10 minutes, finishing in 1:49:28. We were all very proud! The girls were especially excited to take turns wearing his medal.

And here they are with the Mayflower in the background. In all the excitement I guess I forgot to take Teya to the bathroom, so shortly after Taber's triumphant finish she scrambled for a bush but didn't quite make it and ended up needing a change of pants, hence the shorts she's sporting in this picture.

After the race we went to look at some of the sights in the harbor. We saw the famous Plymouth Rock (or what is left of it)

We also took a tour of the Mayflower (which is actually just a replica). It was really cool and they even had pilgrims on board who stayed in character and talked about life on the ship and the new continent.

Touring the upper deck (guess I couldn't resist a turn wearing the medal myself ; )

Before we left we grabbed a treat for the girls for being so good at Daddy's race. I'm so glad we could all go down to support him and can't wait for his next race in just a few more weeks!