We have been a running family off and on for years.
On January 15, 1983 our daughter Melissa (just a month away from her 11th birthday) ran the Nookachamps half marathon with me, my mom and dad, my brother and his wife. She was determined to run that distance and she had trained diligently towards that goal. Here's a photo of me, my brother (Phil) and Melissa. I'm not sure which race this was, but the picture was taken around that same year.
Melissa was always my dad's protector. The first few marathons he ran were the Birch Bay and Seaside marathons. At that time he used to get serious chills after he ran. Here's a picture of her comforting him after one of his Birch Bay marathon finishes.
Another fun memory was when we ran the Baker to Bellingham relay together as a family team, also in 1983. It was a Greater Bellingham running club sponsored event at the time. Here are my mom (Shirley) and dad getting aid and encouragement from Melissa.
Quite a few years later Melissa and my dad made some more memories together running a marathon together in Seattle.
On Saturday January 16th yet another run together was added to their memory bank. My dad (Chuck) and Melissa ran the Nookachamps half marathon together again after a 33 year gap. My brother and his wife (Rosaura) were there also to run the 10k. Here are some special pictures from the day.
Everyone getting ready for their big day -
Here are some photos of Melissa and my dad (83 years young) running their half marathon.
It was wonderful to see them running together again. My husband and I surprised everyone by showing up unannounced to watch them. We drove the course and stopped to cheer every couple of miles. My mom was even able to see them run by a couple of times and yell a cheer for them on my iPhone using a face time call.
I love these two, with their fun spirited - get after life with a full throttle attitude.
Like grandpa, like granddaughter!
*If you'd like to see more of what these two do for fun you can read about my dad's 80 mile run on his 80th birthday HERE and to find out more about the Spartan races my daughter enjoys, you can find that info. HERE. Her husband wrote a nice summary about their Tahoe "Beast" Spartan race, you can read about it HERE. They had the thrill of competing on the same course as the Elite Spartan Race World champions.
