Endurance

We had an extremely busy weekend this weekend. A birthday party Friday night and Saturday morning, then we escaped to Galveston for the afternoon (we thought) and ended up staying the night. I'll have to post pictures of the parties and the beach later, what we witnessed Sunday morning takes precedence over everything!

My brother Charlie, has a back disease. Its pretty painful, and he has lived with the pain for almost 10 years. He has always been in good shape, playing basketball, basically anything that included alot of sweat and "fun" with the guys. But, last year, he went for a checkup, and the doctor said it was time for Charlie to have surgery on his back. Well, this isn't just any surgery, its surgery that has you flat out on your back for 8 weeks, then is a long recovery, and pretty much, he won't get to be active again in a sporty sense. So, Charlie decided he would start training for the marathon in Houston on January 13th. He thought (I am assuming) that he would give it all he had before having to go through with the surgery. The marathon was a 26 mile run. Did you read that right? 26 miles!!! He completed it, and has done a few more since (I think he is addicted, but don't tell him I said that!). So, this weekend, he did a triathalon. I learned alot about them, but basicall what he did is called the 1/4 Ironman. He swam for .6 miles, biked for 26 miles, and then ran for 6 point something miles (I am sure when you are running that "something" is very important).

I honestly have never been a part of something so exciting. I am not kidding. It was at Moody Gardens, so there were a lot of places we could see him along the race. It was so fun! We raced around trying to get a glimpse of him every where we could. We cheered loudly, screamed, jumped, anything you could imagine. It was thrilling. I was worried the kids would be bored, but Sullivan was SOOOOO into it. He couldn't handle waiting to see Charlie again. It was really cute to watch him run as fast as he could to the next spot, worried he might miss out on the chance to scream for his Uncle. He was really ticked that people were cheering for others because he really wanted his Uncle to win.

Sophie waiting to cheer on Unkie Charlie!
The biking wait was about an hour, so Sullivan busted out the leapster to keep him occupied. We all cheered for other people, but he would have no part of that- his Uncle Charlie was the ONLY person he wanted to win.

This video is Sullivan running as fast as he can to the next "spot".
Dad getting the "perfect" shot.
Charlie JUST after he crossed the finished line. It looks like he is thinking "Remind me why I did that again?"

I could not be more proud of you Charlie! I can't imagine having the endurance to finish!