The Rothlisbergers: 3.0 for 30

I've been teasing Jordan for months about his 30th birthday coming up! He always likes to remind me that I'm older than he is (he tells everyone he saved me from being an old maid) so I was very excited for him to turn the big 3-0! I think it kind of started getting to him a little bit because in February he informed me he was going to train for a 5k and run it on his birthday. He's run occasionally over the years but he's never done anything like this so I was kind of surprised but thought it was a fantastic idea! What a great way to celebrate! He found a good couch to 5k app that he liked and went for it. He ran three times a week for 9 weeks and was so dedicated to it. There were times he couldn't run until like 11 pm because he things we had going on but he never missed!! We even stopped at the Under Armour outlet on our way back from California to get him some good running clothes because he was enjoying it so much!!

So finally his birthday rolled around and with it the Heroes 5k! The race was up in Glendale about an hour from our house at Camelback Ranch stadium but it was the only one on his birthday so it worked out! The race was raising money for local firefighters so they did a little Mustache Dash for the kids before the 5k and I signed up both girls. Madison has done a couple runs at her school this year and was excited about it, but McKinley told us she was only going to run for a little bit and then she wanted us to come pick her up in the stroller :) I was actually surprised at the distance they had the kids run; it was the entire way around the concourse. I guess I was thinking like 40 yards or something. I thought McKinley would never make it so I had Jordan run behind her in case she needed help and as a little warm up for him. But McKinley ran the ENTIRE way!! She said she was tired but she knew she was supposed to run so she didn't want to stop. She did so awesome!! Madison did great too, and they both had a lot of fun!! Madison did say that after a while when she realized that she wasn't with McKinley anymore, she thought about stopping and going back to find her, but she really wanted to keep running so she did :) It's the thought that counts, right?! They were both so happy that they did it and showed off their medals the rest of the day!!!!

After the cuteness of the Mustache Dash, it was time to get down to business. There were almost 200 participants in the 5k and Jordan knew he wasn't going to be with the hardcore runners so he started a little further back in the pack. Unfortunately, this meant that he had a little trouble getting going because he had to weave around so many people who were just walking in order to be able to get into a good running rhythm. But he found his groove and started going. We cheered for him at the start and watched him go around the concourse before the course headed out of the stadium and we just had to wait. I knew his best mile up to this point was right around 10 minutes so I was expecting 30 minutes for him to finish. But just in case, I made sure we were lined up at the finish about 20 minutes in. The winner came across at around 17 minutes and another guy came by a minute later but then there was a lull until about 22 minutes before people started trickling in more steadily. It was fun to see the runners suddenly come around the corner headed for the finish; the crowd cheered for each one! At around 29 minutes, Jordan suddenly appeared and we went crazy!!! It was so fun to see him!! I know how hard he worked to accomplish this, and I loved seeing him do it!!! His official time was 29:20.28, which was his best time ever and 5th place in the 21-30 age group!! He actually said he was so pumped up at the start that his first mile was 7 minutes so he had to slow down and pace himself a little better :) It was seriously so fun!! I'm so proud of him, and I see many more races in our future!!!

My cute racers!! They gave the kids fake mustaches for the Mustache Dash

Doing some stretches before their race

Ready, set ...

Go!!!

I gave Jordan my phone to take a couple pictures as they were running, which was stupid in hindsight because Madison was soon too far ahead to get any pictures and I was waiting at the finish line for them but couldn't take any pictures. But we did get this one of McKinley on her way