The Las Vegas Rock 'n Roll 10K!!

We had bought racing shirts but sadly it was cold and rainy that day and we ended up wearing sweatshirts so you couldn't even see them :(.

 Instead of the usual chocolate and flowers, we wanted to do something BIG for our 5 year wedding anniversary! So we signed ourselves up for the Vegas Rock 'n Roll 10K! Neither of us had ever ran competitively before (no wait, Josh ran a 5K once with his Mom when he was little), but this has been something we've wanted to do for a while and would have if I hadn't kept getting pregnant....

A 10K is 6.2 miles which is more than either of us have ever ran and we planned on training weekly for it so we didn't die before we reached the finish line. I had to wait until I was cleared to exercise after giving birth to Evelyne and we did good for about two weeks and then all the drama happened with both of our Dad's getting into accidents :(. By the time life calmed down enough to breathe and focus on the fun things again, we only had two weeks left before the race! So I did my best to fit running and Insanity into my daily routine which was easier said than done. I kept hounding Josh, but he didn't feel like training at all....

Then the day came! Grandma Janis had flown into town to watch the kids for us and off we went! It was an AMAZING experience! We got there early so we could park and figure out where to go etc. Once we got situated and had time to kill, we walked over to the Stratosphere for lunch and watched some football on the big screen.

When it was finally time to go, we checked our bags with the UPS truck they provided, put on our numbers, and got in line! There was a rock and roll band playing at the starting line and it was getting us pumped! Once the gun went off we pushed past all the annoying people who couldn't even attempt to jog (Seriously though, if you are fat and lazy, start with a 5K!) and ran our hearts out! I had thought I would be running circles around Josh since I was the one who had tried to train, but it was the exact opposite! He was an animal! I did my best to keep up with his long legs which meant I was sprinting the entire way! All along the course were rock bands playing and people cheering us on. We laughed so hard because our best supporters were the homeless people! They were awesome!

Getting excited at the starting line!

The pre-race picture!

There was a point in the last mile when our legs turned to jello, our minds went numb, and all we could focus on was breathing. It was at this point when Super Josh wanted to start walking but I pushed him to keep going and we were both so glad we did! It was the greatest feeling in the world making it across that finish line and knowing we didn't stop!!! The amazing part is we finished in 40 minutes! That's like a 6.5 minute mile average!! CRAZY!!!

After the finish line we were met with people handing out protein bars, chocolate milk, water, gatorade, bananas, etc. We walked for a while trying to catch our breaths again, and then turned around and attempted to make our way back to where we had parked our car. This was especially difficult since there was still  the half marathon and marathon going on so we were going against the stream of runners. There was an unfortunate incident when we tried to hop a fence and Josh got his crotch caught and almost took the whole fence down with him hahaha! It was super painful for him but I couldn't help but laugh. He needed a minute to recover from that so we watched the Bellagio Fountains and cuddled in the meantime. It was the perfect post-race moment. We couldn't stop kissing and there was this beautiful feeling of camaraderie between us from conquering the race together.

I can't even describe the feeling we had when taking this picture with our medals! We conqered our fears AND our weaknesses!

It took us almost 4 hours to get to our hotel room at Mandalay Bay because of all the streets that were closed off and the INSANE traffic! Vegas drivers are the worst! We also discovered the hard way that setting off your own car alarm and not having the clicker with you to turn it off results in a very loud scene and your car shutting off.... grrrrr.

We couldn't have been more happy to get to our hotel room than we were that night! We drew ourselves a hot bubble bath in the giant garden tub and relaxed together. Our muscles were shot and we were in a lot of pain once the numbness wore off so the bath felt like heaven.

The next day we could barely walk, but managed to make it to breakfast at the buffet there in the hotel and then headed home to see the kids and Janis. They had a great time with Grandma and we all had fun talking about the race! Austin liked hearing about the race and playing with our medals! He was so cute as he sprinted across the living room, pretending he was racing. At the finish line he would hold out his hand for his medal and then put it around his neck and start racing again! He cracks us up :).

Wearing Daddy's medal.

Grandma Janis made it all possible! Austin Loved having here here :).

Eve LOVES her Grandma and was a ball of smiles the whole time!

She also LOVES Austin, but that's nothing new ;).

Grandma took the kids to the park and wore them out! Austin was actually asking to take a nap that day!

Daddy and Evie :).

cuteness overload! We don't have a guest room anymore since we turned it into Eve's room so we put a mattress on the living room floor for Grandma to sleep on. Both kids thought this was great for jumping and even Dad is asking if we can keep it there....

The night before Grandma left, Austin snuck downstairs and climbed into bed with her. I wasn't happy about finding him out of bed, but this was too cute to not smile at :).