We did it!

Woot Woot!  4 of us ladies (started with 5) have been running since mid-November with a single goal in mind; to run the Vienna half-marathon.  Well, we did it!  Only 3 of us ended up running as Debbi had to drop out due to an untimely injury but she still came to cheer us on.  Unfortunately for me Eric was in the States so I got to bring the kids by myself, which Debbi then graciously watched during the race.  In our group we had us four ladies, three husbands and 11 kids!

 Michelle, me and Cyndi after the race, they gave medals to everyone... well almost, they ran out so hopefully Michelle and Cyndi will get theirs in the mail.

The younger kids after the 1k coca-cola run.  Keenan was bummed because he was too young to sign up.

The morning of the race I met up with Michelle and we packed ourselves into the metro along with the other 30,000 racers.  We were supposed to meet up with Cyndi near the start line but we never found her until after the race.  Since this was our first race we had to start at the very back, when they finally let us go it was mass chaos.  I spent the first 4-5 miles right on a guy's heels as he was more aggressive fighting through the constant wall of people.  I tried enjoying the sights as we ran all over Vienna but there was just too many people, I had to watch where I was going.  As I was going through the finish line a few people were finishing for the full marathon, crazy!  My goal was to finish under 2 hours... I missed my mark by 16 seconds, grrrrr!  I guess this means I have to sign up for another one...


I debated whether to drive or take the train and ended up going with the train option.  I had envisioned the train to be like a subway where I can just push my stroller right on in with the problems.  Well, trains here are not stroller friendly; there were lots of stairs to get to the different platforms and a steep, narrow set of steps to get on the train.  All these stairs left me at the mercy of strangers for help with the stroller, our bag and the boys.  A really good strategy was to block to exit or entry so no one could go by until I was helped  :)  There were lots of nice people willing to help and lots of nice people on the trains that even helped to keep the boys entertained!

What was the first thing Keenan did when we got to our room?  Check out his Super Hero undies in the mirror.

Thousands of people in the registration hall left most of our kids grumpy, that is until they found the climbing wall!

They even received medals for their efforts... no need to tell them they were left over medals from one of the marathons last year.

After the registration hall we tagged along with the Trosper family down to a palace.   Which one?  I'd have to look but the Trosper kids kept Keenan entertained and I got to look around at the Easter market and enjoy some Austrian strudel, yum!

A man on a chicken... giving the kids high fives...

Probably the kids favorite part of the Palace, other than the lollipops, tossing our coins into the fountain. Below, Alex and Keenan playing around.

I've never considered myself a runner, in fact it's never been my favorite activity give me a bike any day.  Now that I'm in the habit of running I've really been enjoying it.  Plus the more toned body is a nice bonus!  
I've been busy trying to look up other runs near here, maybe a 10k or two and will probably sign up for Ljubljana's 1/2 marathon in the fall.