This past weekend was very eventful at the Whitaker household. Our good friends the Moncriefs came in town on Thursday afternoon to kick start what was sure to be a busy, eventful weekend. Brent, Jimmy and Dusty were participating in the Country Music Marathon/Half Marathon in Nashville. We had made plans months in advance for the Cranes and Moncriefs to stay at the house as well as to host a pre-race pasta party the night before. We were so excited to have Katie and Owen, as well as the Garzas join in on the pasta dinner. It was a great UTC gathering at our new home!

Friday we spent the day downtown at the Health and Fitness Expo where there were a plethora of vendors and attractions related to the race. Also the guys had to get registered, get all their gear together and make sure they were fully prepared for the next day.

We saw some pretty neat things at the expo including Denise Austin, the work-out video lady. We also saw Dan and Dane from this season's Biggest Loser.

Friday was rather eventful with the dinner at our house with all of our great friends as well as Brent's aunt, uncle and their three kids from Birmingham. Their oldest daughter, MaryAnne was running the race so they came to support her.

As the night went on, we quickly realized something was terribly wrong with our air conditioner as the house continued to get warmer and warmer. Unfortunately, it would not work which made for a very balmy night's sleep.

Saturday morning came early - 4:15 to be exact as the guys started getting together and left our house around 4:30 to head downtown. It was a rough start to the morning as we had one camper that required a 2am drive around the town and another camper have a bad dream. (which actually we figured out later was really the beginning of an ear infection)

With just a few hours of sleep under their belts, we wished the boys well and they hit the road.

By 5:30 all the girls loaded up and followed suit to downtown. We had quite an eventful morning trying to determine the best spectator spot. We parked at the finish line, rode a "participant shuttle" to the start line and were fortunate enough to at least see Dusty on his way. Jimmy had already started with all the Kenyans and Brent was no where to be found.

We quickly determined we had quite the hike back to the finish line where we originally parked. I am pretty sure we hoofed about 4 miles that morning, babies in tow, with a cool 90+ degree temperature day.

We finally made it to the finish line, searched for Jimmy to no avail, then settled into a spot to watch for Brent. He rounded the corner on the last mile and looked fantastic! I was so proud of him. A few hours later, we all cheered on Dusty as he wrapped up his 5 hour, 26 mile trek.

We finally found Jimmy who had been finished for quite some time, but was walking aimlessly around searching for his "supporters." ha!

It was a great weekend, needless to say. Tackling many milestones: Brent completing his first half marathon (13.1 miles) in less than 3 hours and Dusty completing his first full marathon in less than 5 hours! We were very proud of all of them. (Even Jimmy, who hung with the Kenyans!)



There were RIDICULOUS lines pre-race to all of the port-o-toilets. We had to walk behind this huge long line and MAN did they stink!! I think it was safe to say there were a lot of nervous bellies... YUCK


This is hard to see, but these are some of the racers waiting to get to their spot on the start line. There were 31 corrals with 1,000 runners in each corral. They let them start every 2-3 minutes, so the start took over an hour for every runner to get through.

There's a guy in this pic without his shirt on, which was funny because Brent kept saying he was going to run shirtless because he couldn't find the right attire...


The girls waiting to see our guys.





The line of runners was infinite! I was amazing at how far down the street they were lined up.



Yep, more port-o-toilets...different spot...different line...same funky smell.




The official start line.


I could never find Brent, but I did find his corral number right before they crossed the start line. He's in there some where...






Brent - post-race after he changed out of his shirt. He just looked like a by-stander, all calm and cool. Other runners looked like they were going to die...literally!

All of the finishers:

Brent, Dusty (full) and Jimmy

This was the final cake I made for the week. A co-worker requested a birthday cake for her sons' birthday party. They are HUGE Gator Fans (bleh) so I tried to incorporate their fanatical behavior into the cake. They were having their party at a rec center, playing dodge ball and basketball so I tied that into the theme of the cake.

Our Good Friday actually started early around 4:15 a.m. as storms ripped through our neighborhood, waking Brent and I to crazy-sounding wind and side-ways rain. After turning on the TV, we learned that a major storm front was headed our way and it was only minutes later that the tornado sirens went off. It was one of those times when you turn on the weather, you see the radar pictures and know that it's going to be an eventful weather day.
I spent the first half of the day glued to the TV, listening to the forecasts of the storms heading our way, but the most serious came around 1:00 when quarter-size hail starting raining down in our yard, pounding our windows as if it were to break through the glass at any moment. The wind started to pick up and the weather guys started sounding a little more serious about the intensity of the storm. Their exact words, "we will be surprised if this doesn't result in a tornado..."
Minutes later, I watched the news as they showed video of a funnel cloud moving through Columbia (less than 10 minutes from our house). It was at that moment, that they realized a serious tornado would likely touch down in the Murfreesboro area. Moments later, photographs and pictures came through on the TV of the devastation to one neighborhood. Houses were literally picked up off their foundation and slammed into the ground. Cars were thrown around like small toys. One picture I saw of a 2x4 appeared as a missile into the roof of another house.
It was only hours later that the realization came that entire neighborhoods were destroyed - approximately 750 homes total were damaged, with over 100 being completely demolished. Tractor trailers and cars were reportedly turned over on Interstate 24 heading towards to Chattanooga, creating mass havoc as emergency crews worked to access the people trapped inside their houses.
Sadly, two people lost their lives as they tried to leave their house moments before the storm touched down - supposedly they got scared and thought they could escape the storm.

Thankfully we were ok. No damage in our neighborhood and I think the dogs are getting used to the crazy weather! (not to say that WE are) We've spoken to our neighbors and told them that we are NOT used to tornadoes, but they've all assured us that this has been a particularly violent tornado season. We have until the end of May until we're in the clear, so we're just praying for protection and that it settles down a bit. Of course, I say this after hearing reports this morning that we have yet ANOTHER violent system moving through tonight.
And to end on more of a light-hearted note: here's a video posted on the weather channel by a fine Murfreesboro resident. My favorite line is, "Go get in the tuuuuub."
http://www.weather.com/multimedia/videoplayer.html?clip=14006&from=hp_video_1

Some days I have a lot to say. Other days I read things that speak to me and I feel will likely speak to so many others.
Today is one of those days. This is from the "Stuff Christians Like" blog which is a fan favorite. Check out today's post....it's really good and totally worth the 2 1/2 minutes it takes to read it.

Stuff Christians Like: Thinking You're Naked