This past Friday, Brooke and I finished a very long journey. We finalized the adoption of Colton! As I mentioned on Friday, this day was a long, long, time coming. Our journey to become a family of 3 started way back in the middle of 2010. It’s hard to believe that it’s been so long. It’s even harder to believe that we finally have jumped through that last hoop we needed to go through to become a family of 3. Want to know something even crazier???

On January 27, 2012, I ran my very first race. It was the Inaugural Neverland 5K. Thus far, it’s my only night race. This race began at 10pm (I think). I had no clue how to do a race. I ran the race with a Mickey Mouse watch in cross training shoes. My long sleeved top was purchased just days before the race. I trained for that race entirely on a treadmill. Even though the race wasn’t timed, I believe that I beat my time on the treadmill! I has so much fun that I did a few more 5K’s and 10K’s in 2012. By the time I ran my last race of 2012…

Brooke and I were certified to adopt and the waiting process began.

I ran my first half marathon the following January at the 2nd Tinker Bell Half Marathon…

and thought I should challenge myself to run a full marathon. I did this in January 2014. The thought process was to find something to keep my mind busy during the 18-24 month wait time our adoption agency told us we were in for. It worked out fantastically! The only problem was that the wait turned into more than 24 months.

For my third marathon, I ran my first World Major Marathon in Chicago.

Not only was it my first World Major Marathon, but the first time running as a charity runner. I naturally chose to run for an adoption agency and raised more than $1,600! The ups and downs of my wait period were fully felt in this training cycle. I thought that running for an adoption agency would be therapeutic. It sort of was. I was glad to have met more people who have adopted or were adopted along the way. However, I crashed and burned on one of my training runs as I thought about my own wait.

In March of 2016, we were finally selected to be adoptive parents of our little Colton! There were still supervised visits with our agency to get through and paperwork to submit to the courts to get our date.

By the time we got to the Star Wars Light Side Half Marathon Weekend this year, we finally had our court date set! Colton did the diaper dash for his first race….

and I finished my first challenge races as a dad! In the final mile and a half of the Star Wars Light Side Half Marathon, it hit me that I was doing this not so easy thing even with an infant at home. I can still do hard things!

Last Tuesday, I did get out for a run.

I run/walked/ran my way to 4 miles. After a week of dealing with a bad cold, I altered my intervals to be run 20 seconds, walk 1 minute, 40 seconds. It’s a little slower than I’d want to be in a race. However, with how cold it’s been, I didn’t want to risk getting sick again. These intervals are totally comfortable to me….especially for 4 miles. It’s hard for me not to worry about time. But, I did it. Let me tell you, it felt great!

As our court date got closer, I spent a lot of time reflecting on this journey we had been on. It’s kind of crazy to think about. Running and adoption has been my life since 2012. We were finally at the end of this adoption journey! I skipped my run on Thursday to get our apartment in better shape. On Friday we were having friends over to celebrate.

This is Brooke and I the moment the Judge declared that we were officially Colton’s adoptive parents! It was an amazing moment in my life. One I hope to never forget. With it, a chapter in my life closed.

 

Over the weekend, something else closed…my training for the 2017 Sketchers Performance Los Angeles Marathon. I needed 17 miles on the weekend. I ran zero. Running on Saturday was missed because the emotions of Friday were too much for me to get out and run. By Sunday, I had decided it would be best to skip this race. Marathons are no joke. Those 26.2 miles can really take it out of you if you’re under trained. My training for the LA Marathon has been pretty close to non-existent. I missed most of December enjoying being a dad during Christmas time for the first time. I started back at it in January. However, the week after the Star Wars Rebel Challenge, I was sick. That left me with a crash course in training for this marathon. Honestly, by the time I got to last week, my marathon training was on life support.

This little guy turns 1 the day before the LA Marathon and we’re going to want to celebrate. I mean, his first birthday is on a Saturday. It’s hard to pass up celebrating on his actual birthday when it falls on a weekend day. So, I had to ask the question…do I really want to do a party for my boy on the day before a full marathon and then run a full marathon the next day?

As if poor training and running a full marathon the day after my son’s first birthday weren’t enough to think about, I realized that, using the Jeff Galloway training plan for a half marathon with time improvement, week 1 of training for the Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon is THIS WEEK. That was the final nail in the coffin for my plans to run the LA Marathon on March 19th.

As I thought about it over the weekend, it seemed like this week was the perfect week for new beginnings….a new chapter in my life. After all, with the finalization of Colton’s adoption, I was already beginning a new chapter of life. I might as well combine a new chapter as a runner as well. Right? I’m no longer running to deal with the pain infertility left me with. I’m now running to celebrate the new life I have! I’m running just because I love running.

Along the way, I’ve found this really fun running group….

and this running group. There are so many awesome runners that I’ve been able to meet…

I’ve been able to meet Meb a few times!

I love being apart of the running community! So, even though I’m skipping the rest of my training for the Los Angeles Marathon, it’s for a new, fresh start. In some ways it feels like I’m starting all over on this journey. When I ran my first marathon at Walt Disney World, I started of my preparations for that race by training….

for my first Dumbo Double Dare (even if it wasn’t officially Dumbo). This time around, I’m starting off my preparations for the 2017 TCS New York City Marathon by training for the Rock n Roll San Diego 5K and Half Marathon. Just like I did back in 2013, I’ll finish this training cycle and step into training for the TCS New York City Marathon where it is. In other words, I won’t be doing a full training cycle for the TCS New York City Marathon. The same occurred after finishing training for the 2013 Dumbo Double Dare. I stepped in (mid-cycle) to the training for the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon. Also, I started training for the 2013 Dumbo Double Dare towards the start of our waiting period in this adoption journey that just finished. The symmetry of these two chapters of life is hard to ignore. So, while I’m a little sad about not finishing what I started with the LA Marathon, I’m pretty excited about starting this new journey as both a runner and in life this week!

I’ve got my eye on you Week 1 of Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon training! Bring it!