wazUPwid our month-long hiatus?

Um, so we haven't posted in over a month. Let's take a moment for me to facepalm because of my lack of blogging.

This is me, sitting in front of the computer,
realizing I have stunk at blogging lately.

George Costanza knows how it is.

and in the spirit of Easter coming up....

Sorry bout that! But it's not because we haven't been up to anything, by any means.

In fact, before we even went to Ft. Lauderdale, Mr. Marathon tackled the wazUPwidis (hence the title of this post) Urban Run and Stair Challenge, but we were so busy in our preparations for Florida, we forgot to post about it! This race was an interesting change of pace. I was not brave enough to attempt it, especially the week before my marathon, but of course, my mister said....

.... and we headed north to Roanoke for this Urban Run and Stair challenge. This race was in downtown Roanoke and was a very interesting concept. It started on the street, but it ended up running through parking lots, parking garages, up and down stairs of buildings, across bridges throughout town, and on all kinds of urban terrain. It was roughly a 5K distance, factoring in all the elevation changes. He enjoyed the challenge, and won third place in his age group!

After the wazUPwidis Challenge and Ft. Lauderdale, we have tried to maintain our training fairly consistently, and one of us (ahem, not me...) is doing better with this than the other. He's been running with his STRIDE boys' running team, our running friends, with other friends he's gotten into running, and by himself. He has stayed plenty busy with his running! 

All 5 years' awards/finishers' swag

He decided that he had to keep his streak going with running one of our wonderful local races, the Martinsville Half Marathon (see previous years' posts 2014 and 2013). He has run it every year since the inaugural run on March 26, 2011, which adds up to 5 times running it! I have run it twice, but decided to sit it out this year. My time-challenged husband almost accidentally sat it out this year too, though. He pulled up to the starting area with 15 minutes to spare (or so he thought). Then, him being the social butterfly that he is, he started chatting with fellow runners, and getting ready at a nice, leisurely rate. Then, he decided to hit the portapotties. While in the portapotties, he heard "GO!" and he assumed that must have been a practice GO, or it must have been the 5K start....

LEFT: Original half marathon starting photo. RIGHT: For effect, we have edited Alfredo in, as if he was actually present at the official start

NOPE. It was the half start. He missed it, and he was still wearing his hoodie and sweatpants. Right at the start line, his clothes were off in a flash (well, his over-clothes... he kept on his running clothes... barely... just kidding!.... maybe....) and he took off. He started about 2 or 3 minutes behind everybody else, but ended up catching up with the front of the pack around mile 4, settling in at around 8th place. He ended up finishing 6th overall, 1st in his age group! What a way to go out with a bang, considering he had a birthday this week and moved up from 20-24 to the 25-29 age group!!!!

This race is like a birthday tradition at this point....
It always falls right around this birthday!

Race staff helping him quickly undress before the race...
I'm not sure how I feel about this...!?

Lonely start....

Catching up

Mile 7ish

Mile 9ish

Victorious finish, nonetheless

He has some upcoming events, including a Spartan Sprint race, the Blue Ridge Marathon, and the Off The Rails Sprint Triathlon coming up this spring, and hopefully I won't forget to blog about all of these exciting events!