4 Armando

Well this past weekend was a big weekend for Bob! On Sunday, January 17th, he completed his first ever Marathon. Yep, 26.2 miles of running running and more running! It is a feat for anyone, but this year it was especially challenging and had tremendous meaning.

7 months ago, Armando came to Bob and said that he wanted to run a marathon. He had started to get in shape and Bob was the perfect partner. They started to train and helped each other in the beginning stages of training. Well, two months into training, Armando was diagnosed with leukemia and went into the hospital for intense chemo. Bob stayed by his side and told him that he wasn't going to run a marathon until Armando could do it with him. I think that it was motivation for both of them, Armando to fight, and Bob to fight with him. Brother to Brother.


Sadly, the Lord took Armando home to be with Him on September 1st. It was sudden and tragic, but we know that God is running with Armando in heaven. Bob really had a hard time deciding whether or not to continue with the marathon. It just felt different and sad. After some thought and time, Bob decided that it would be a great tribute to Armando to run the marathon just like they had originally set out to do. Justin, Armando's brother-in-law is an avid runner and partnered with Bob to run. It was so cool to see this victorious spirit rise out of these two men who barely knew each other but both loved Armando.

Jill and Steve also decided to be a part of the run. Steve decided to run the half marathon and Jill wanted to meet Bob at mile 14 and run him in. So they started to train.


Bob was training so well. He had made it through a long 15 mile run. He was well on his way to a strong marathon. At the end of October, Bob went on an awesome mens retreat and went for a run. He stepped into a hole and twisted his knee. It was so painful that he could barely get back to the camp and the camp nurse. He got back and went right in to get some help. Injury would be devastating to his training. Unfortunately, that knee took him out of commission for 4 weeks. About two weeks after the mens retreat Bob woke up with severe pain in his shoulder too. It was unbelievable what was happening to him. It felt like everything was against him running a marathon. He spent 6 full weeks in and out of doctor's and chiropractor offices. The marathon was ebbing further and further away at this point. I remember going to bed and just praying that somehow God would work this out and let him run.

At the beginning of December, Bob started to run again. He went out to Walmart and bought two knee braces. He put both of them on his bad knee and hit the road. Over Christmas we headed up to Colorado and 8000 feet of altitude. Bob ran almost every day and even made it 10 miles up at altitude.


Once we got back to AZ, he kept running and completed a 17 mile run. This was the longest training run he would ever do.

All four of the runners committed to running the race for Armando. On the day of the race Bob and I woke up at 3:30 in the morning to tape Bob's feet and send him to meet Justin. Jill, Steve and I left around 6 to see him at the start line. You are probably wondering why they had to leave so early...Well Justin decided that he was going to do the ultra marathon at 31 miles. You know, after 26.2 what is 5 more right? So Justin did his 5 mile loop at 6:30 and met up with everyone at the marathon start. Here are Bob and Justin crossing the start line. The second picture is when Steve crossed the start for the half marathon.



Finding them in the photos is like playing "Where's Waldo?" but they are in there.

Here they are at mile 14 when Jill joined in to run them home.


This is mile 24. Bob is still smiling even through the pain!


AAAHHH, mile 26.2, just about to cross the finish line.


And here they are, CONGRATULATIONS GUYS! You made it! I couldn't be prouder!!


Now I know that you are noticing that they all have similar shirts. Well since they were all running for one purpose they decided to have shirts made. Justin's company designed the art work and they all had names printed on the back.

Justin is "Jump Face". Apparently, this name came along due to a texting typo. Bob was trying to be a smart aleck and call Justin a "Chump Face" and didn't spell check. Or maybe he did and the phone automatically made sense of his writing. Any hoo it stuck.

Bob is "The Builder." This one needs little explanation. Bob the Builder.....Come on now :)

Steve is "Over the Hill." Steve is hardly over the hill, but his last name is Hill and they wanted something clever. Someone who is over the hill couldn't run a half marathon in 2 hours. Go Steve!

Jill is "Chunkers." Her name really came out of the humorous relationship that was Bob and Armando. Both of the guys took Jill golfing one day. Jill had a shot that took a huge chunk of grass and dirt out of the ground. Armando yelled out "Wow, you chunked that!" Without missing a beat Bob said "Did you just call my mom a Chunker? I think you did" They all laughed about that, and the name just stuck.

So, here they are, Jump Face, The Builder, Chunkers and Over the Hill all 4 Armando. What a tribute. I felt blesssed to spend the day with Traci meeting them along the 26.2 mile route and taking pictures. Bob proudly crossed the finish line at a time of 4:36! Way to go Bob.