Farm Animals at the TC Marathon

In my race report from Monday, I left off as I was starting to cool down, but I wanted to mention Mike and Matt's races (my brothers-in-law). But I want to back up to the night before the race first. We went to pick up the farm animal outfits, and we had some fun at home:

A raccoon poking at my son in the backyard


Animals checking Facebook

OK, back to race day.... Just as I got back up to my family after finishing the 10 Mile, Matt came running past:

Sweet action shot of Matt chucking his arm-warmers at us

Matt finished his 3rd TC 10 Mile strong! Congrats Matt!!

Someone snapped a photo of me staying warm and cheering before starting my cool-down:

Then I ran back to mile 9 with the speedy ladies that I mentioned in my last post. I was looking for Mike - it was his FIRST ROAD RACE EVER, and it was TEN MILES! In just a matter of seconds, he appeared! I started running with him, and I snapped photos behind him:

Mike with about 0.75 miles to go!

He was a little bummed that he wasn't quite going to break 10:00 / mile overall, but I kept telling him that he just did his first race and it was a 10 miler! And I told him to look behind him to see all the people back there. And I told him to shut up and run. :)

Running past his family at mile 9.5


Downhill towards the capital!

NICE WORK MIKE!!!! Can I sign you up next year, too?!? :)

Earlier in the day, my mother-in-law and Brianna (Mike's GF) got the farm animals out and ready to cheer:

I got changed pretty quick, and started cheering!

Cheering for a Marathon "Wheeler"


Running with the elites


Proper cheering means getting your whole body into it

Auntie Steph got Henry out, and he was wearing his monkey outfit:

Dad and son


After Mike's first 10 Mile!


Henry with Grandpa Bryan


I think I ruined this cute photo of Matt and his GF....


Mike getting into character
(this was a different raccoon costume this year, and this one has a nice "pooch")


Cow, Raccoon, Monkey, and Chicken


Cheering!


Cheering


With Grandpa again


Mike the coon


Synchronized push-ups!


The monkey needed a little break


Dancing / cheering


Shake dat ass


Auntie Steph and Henry


A barefoot Flash ran the marathon


High-five for a stranger


Getting undressed for a video
(check back for that!!!!!)


Super sexy fun time


Again, part of the video


Grandma and Henry coming back from a quick walk


Mu-donna (the St. Paul Saints minor league baseball team mascot)
broke a world record by running a 4 hour marathon!


Me with the MN Red "team chicken"
(MN Red is a running team all about running fast, having fun, and drinking beer!)

I need to take a moment to thank Jon (my brother-in-law) for taking those photos above. Most of the photos are ones that Jon snapped, and Annie took many of the photos early on. Thanks guys for coming out to cheer and for snapping lots of pictures!!

Just over the 5 hour mark, I spotted Pharmie off in the distance! She had made a running buddy!

Side Note: Pharmie likes to make "running buddies" in longer races where the goal isn't to go for a massive PR. In 2009, she met Dr. Joe at the Liberty Half IM, and they ran the whole race together:

Anyway, back to the TC Marathon... Pharmie and her running buddy ran past with big smiles:

After 26 miles together!


A quick "hello" for her family


A high-five from a former college roommate

Pharmie was within 10 minutes of where she'd hoped to have finished! She did GREAT!!

We all headed home, we ate copious amounts of food (as I mentioned in my last post), and then everyone cleared out and Pharmie rested with Henry to close out a wonderful day:

I have a CRAZY video to edit together of all of us farm animals acting like fools. I hope to have that done for a "Friday Funny" this week, but I might run out of time. You'll have to stay tuned for THAT! :)