Marathon 2010

Wow! What an experience our first marathon was. Dave and Joey ran it, but we experienced it together as a family and that's the best part. Due to training injuries this winter, they were not able to run the full marathon, but after the tumultuous injury-prone months leading up to it, felt very fortunate to be able to run the half. There were 8000 runners with only a quarter of them actually running the full marathon. The majority run the half.

The weekend started Saturday afternoon when we went downtown to pick up their runners' packet. Included in the packet are their number bib and ChampionChip which runners lace up on their shoe.

The girls and I wished them well and booked it up about a mile to catch all the runners as they came by in action. We watched the lead runners come by, which I would have had to sprint to keep up with. Ugh. Not my idea of fun at all. We guessed which side of the street to wait on, and we guessed wrong. So, we had to snatch this picture of them on the other side. And then after that, the runners got slower and slower until we were cheering on the walkers.

After watching all of the marathoners go by, we couldn't help but notice how close we were to Lamar's.

Boy, were those doughnuts goooood. And, we didn't even feel guilty about all those people running and sweating while we indulged in fat and calories.

Then we made our way into the stadium and watched them all come in. It was about that time, we began to regret all of those calories of fat and sugar. Sugar crash...which reminded us we had been up since 5 am. Jessi took a short siesta on me. Hannah watched the huge monitor waiting for a glimpse of our runners. And, I was vowing never to eat another doughnut as long as I live. Finally....

When we saw them on the monitor, we knew they were only minutes away from crossing the finish line. They crossed together, hands clasped in the air. It was sooo cool. We met them after they got their medals for finishing. And after Joey made his way through all the free food. He was soooo happy. :)

I was unprepared for the emotion I would experience. It was a triumph. An accomplishment. But I didn't just feel it for them. I felt it for the man who crossed the finish line on a wheelchair, for the people running with t-shirts displaying their reason for running--the loss of a loved one to cancer, for the men in the National Guard running, for the families waiting along with us to see their loved ones cross the finish line. I felt it as the cheers and whistles, hoops and hollers filled the stadium. And, I thought, finish time really doesn't matter, what matters more than anything else, is that you finished. You accomplished your goal. And, so many people today did just that.

Guys, I am so proud of you!! Can't wait until next year.....