Thursday 30 May 2013
Cat & Andrews Blessing
Friends and family in the UK obviously already know Cat and Andrew's story. But for anyone who doesn't, I'll delve into it a little.
Andrew and I met in 7th grade at Spring Valley Middle School. After that one year together, he then moved to Seattle and kept in touch with a few of us Californians. Him and I mostly stayed in touch through AOL instant messenger (aka: AIM) and then eventually became pen-pals and ventured into hand written letters. We visited each other a few times, there were a few summer visits, a high school dance, a thanksgiving and my graduation to name a few - and by the way, San Diego to Seattle is just a short flight with fabulous views of Mount St. Helens. Anyway, Andrew came to our wedding where him and Cat met and really from then on, "the rest is history." They came across a handful of hurdles (maybe a few more) while dating, but that didn't stop them from being together in the end. Cat eventually went to Canada where they had an outdoor wedding ceremony with a some of Andrew's close family. Then Andrew made the jump to England this February and they had a wedding blessing on May 4th for Cat's family and friends. Andrew's family also came over for the blessing, along with Andrew's best man Travis; it was so wonderful to see them again. You'll see in the video that they are so happy together and really make the perfect couple. So far, fate is winning!
Cat & Andrew May 4, 2013 from Lindsay Reynolds on Vimeo.
Thursday 23 May 2013
London Marathon 2013
My boy completed the London Marathon this year in record time!
3 hours and 42 minutes!
3 hours and 42 minutes!
He had run the London Marathon before in 2010 where he secured a place and raised money for Cancer Research (in honour of his nan). This year, after we all got our denial letters (magazines!) in the post, I knew he wouldn't take no for an answer and he immediately signed up with UNICEF. At first he was torn between charities and almost went with guide dogs for the blind, but we thought UNICEF might be the better route as it's a global charity that everyone around the world is aware of and can donate to. He quickly became friends with the staff at UNICEF - it seemed like a weekly occasion that he was getting goodies from them in the post! Stuff for his quiz night, posters, balloons, collecting pots, t-shirts, the list goes on. Speaking of his quiz night, what a massive success! He had nearly 85 people show up to Etchinghill Village Hall where Janet had prepared all of the questions and rounds, and John (and Roma) helped in the kitchen with the most delicious ploughmans I've ever had! In total, the quiz night produced nearly £1,200 in donations! I must admit, aside from the food being so worth the £8 per person, there were some very good prizes. To enter the drawing, it was £2 a raffle ticket.....unfortunately Peter wouldn't let me donate all of my £50 to the drawing alone, so I was only allowed to buy £20 worth of tickets. It was okay though because in the end, I was the second person to have my number drawn!!! I couldn't decide between the £50 Deeson's voucher or a new Super dry hoodie, but since I adored the color of the hoodie, I chose that.
Enough about me!
After the quiz night, Peter was just shy of his £2000 target. It was amazing to see our family and friends donating to his cause. It's an incredibly special thing to witness people doing such wonderful, selfless acts.
On the day of the marathon, Peter's parents came to pick us up (Peter, JP and myself). not long after we were driving, Peter realized he forgot to bring the Garmin to watch his pace and time. When we got into London, Peter's dad pulled over on the road near enough where Peter's starting point was and it felt all too soon that I had to say goodbye & 'see you at the finish line.' I'd been watching Peter train for this moment for months. I've seen him put so much hard work into his workout routine, watched his confidence blossom as the mileage and weights increased, I'd been there at the finish lines of all his long, brutal, wet runs. I've watched him brave through injuries, heard about the blisters and all the other joys that come with marathon training - and then, we were there - we'd finally reached the moment he'd worked so hard for. I honestly surprised myself when I started to tear and choke up in the car once he'd left. I immediately text him to make sure he was okay, not drinking too much water, not walking too fast, knew where he was going, and admitted that I wished I'd gotten out to see him start. It wasn't long after saying our quick goodbye though that Peter's dad found the most amazing parking spot - just under Parliament (Big Ben). Granted, it was £35 for the day, but he was determined (and I think also extremely proud to be there and happy to support in any way he could, obviously). Him and Janet took JP and I on the most exciting route to our spot. We got off the tube near the Tower of London, walked over Tower bridge - where you could already see and feel the buzz - and got to our spot around mile 12. Soon after, Kerry and Heather found us & it felt like just minutes after that that the runners with disabilities were coming past. Not long after them, the elite women came, then the elite men - including of course, Mo Farah. Peter was aiming to finish around 3:45 and I'd eventually got enough reception on my phone to pull up his online tracker so I could estimate about when he should be passing us. We knew he was on his way when we saw the 3:45 pacer go by as he was right on schedule for a 3:45 finish time.
We eventually saw him once more around mile 26 - everywhere along the course was absolutely jam-packed (in a really good way!) so I was anxious we might miss him, but we did see him again and this time he saw us all and even had enough energy to high-five us!
I won't ever forget how proud (and teary) I felt that entire day. He did such a wonderful job reaching his goal and finishing quicker than he hoped for, the crowd and support was just incredible and I knew he was having the time of his life.
Have a watch of the video below, the first half is from the marathon expo a few days before the marathon where we met Stephen Kiprotich, the Olympic gold medalist for the marathon in the 2012 London Olympics!
Enjoy!
Enough about me!
After the quiz night, Peter was just shy of his £2000 target. It was amazing to see our family and friends donating to his cause. It's an incredibly special thing to witness people doing such wonderful, selfless acts.
On the day of the marathon, Peter's parents came to pick us up (Peter, JP and myself). not long after we were driving, Peter realized he forgot to bring the Garmin to watch his pace and time. When we got into London, Peter's dad pulled over on the road near enough where Peter's starting point was and it felt all too soon that I had to say goodbye & 'see you at the finish line.' I'd been watching Peter train for this moment for months. I've seen him put so much hard work into his workout routine, watched his confidence blossom as the mileage and weights increased, I'd been there at the finish lines of all his long, brutal, wet runs. I've watched him brave through injuries, heard about the blisters and all the other joys that come with marathon training - and then, we were there - we'd finally reached the moment he'd worked so hard for. I honestly surprised myself when I started to tear and choke up in the car once he'd left. I immediately text him to make sure he was okay, not drinking too much water, not walking too fast, knew where he was going, and admitted that I wished I'd gotten out to see him start. It wasn't long after saying our quick goodbye though that Peter's dad found the most amazing parking spot - just under Parliament (Big Ben). Granted, it was £35 for the day, but he was determined (and I think also extremely proud to be there and happy to support in any way he could, obviously). Him and Janet took JP and I on the most exciting route to our spot. We got off the tube near the Tower of London, walked over Tower bridge - where you could already see and feel the buzz - and got to our spot around mile 12. Soon after, Kerry and Heather found us & it felt like just minutes after that that the runners with disabilities were coming past. Not long after them, the elite women came, then the elite men - including of course, Mo Farah. Peter was aiming to finish around 3:45 and I'd eventually got enough reception on my phone to pull up his online tracker so I could estimate about when he should be passing us. We knew he was on his way when we saw the 3:45 pacer go by as he was right on schedule for a 3:45 finish time.
We eventually saw him once more around mile 26 - everywhere along the course was absolutely jam-packed (in a really good way!) so I was anxious we might miss him, but we did see him again and this time he saw us all and even had enough energy to high-five us!
I won't ever forget how proud (and teary) I felt that entire day. He did such a wonderful job reaching his goal and finishing quicker than he hoped for, the crowd and support was just incredible and I knew he was having the time of his life.
Have a watch of the video below, the first half is from the marathon expo a few days before the marathon where we met Stephen Kiprotich, the Olympic gold medalist for the marathon in the 2012 London Olympics!
Enjoy!
London Marathon 2013 from Lindsay Reynolds on Vimeo.
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