McLaws Moments: Tucson Marathon 2016

My Bruce ran the Tucson Marathon December 10, 2016. Roy called him wanting him to do it with him a few months back. They trained and finally the day came. Talbot ended up coming with them to do it too. This picture was taken at 4:00 am as Bruce was ready to walk out the door to go to the place to meet the shuttle.

Roy booking it along the path. Grandma and Grandpa McLaws picked Roy and Talbot up from the Tucson airport and were there to help cheer them on. Bruce and Roy were doing really good. The first check point was 5.9 miles into the race. Bruce and Roy were running side by side - their pace was 7.14. The next check point was half marathon - 13.2 with a 7.27. About this time Bruce's calves started cramping (but we didn't know this) super bad and Roy went ahead of him. We got the next text about Roy crossing the next check point at 18.9 miles and I waited and waited to hear about Bruce. Next thing we know Roy comes running past us then a while later Talbot passes us. Finally Bruce's 18.9 check point registered. He was cramped so bad he had to walk and run so that slowed him down quite a bit. He still had his pace at a 8.04 which is pretty darn good with walking and running.

After waiting what seemed forever we finally saw Bruce walking and I knew for sure something was wrong. The pictures are a little out of order - the one just below this is when I saw him walking. I ran over to him and said that was down hill didn't he want to run but he said from his waist down he was numb. He pushed forward and finished the race with a 8.53 average mile which is still really good. As soon as Bruce was slower Mark told Twila that this was his first marathon and was sure he was cramped and that is exactly what had happened. He made it and did great but on the other hand is kind of bummed because he could have got quite a bit faster time. Roy and Talbot did great!