Cityretreat

WOW! It is such an amazing experience I can't believe everyone doesn't partake. We had the best day today cheering on the marathon runners.

The weather was perfect, actually it was a bit hot for the runners but perfect for spectators. We made our first appearance at mile 3 and caught both hubby and Loren come through at a great pace for both. We crossed the street and marked our spot at the 11th mile. Much easier as fans than for the runners to shave those 7 miles.

We saw everyone come through: wheelchair participants, the elite men and women, oh boy it is so amazing. I was on the verge of tears a dozen times for a dozen reasons - the man with abnormalities on his arms and legs, yet somehow beat the odds to participate; the man from Mexico pushing his daughter, ala Hoyt style; and the elite runners...there is just no way to describe the ease with which they move through the race without having witnessed it personally and also struggled yourself, to fully appreciate it.

Sadly I missed hubby here but was astounded to see him hit the half way point at 1:53 (via text alert). He hasn't run a long run since the half marathon in early Sept so it was really hard to know what to expect today. With half completed he seemed to be out of the gate very strong.

We hustled to mile 21 where I was slated to jump in with him and run the rest of the race -- though I was a little leary of his blistering pace. We barely made it to the meet up spot on time before he rounded the corner. I eased on in and he was fantastic! Looked good, seemed to feel pretty good. He made his way through the toughest part of the race - facing south, into the sun, towards Sox field. It was hot. I didn't want to make too much mention of it but I was warm and I had only been running for 15 minutes. It had to suck but he just kept truckin' along.

I ducked out at mile 25 - disappointed not to finish the race with him but it just didn't make sense to try to keep pace with him - baby S has a lifetime to set records in the marathon, no need to start today. I knew hubby would push it even harder the last mile (how did he have any gas left?) and I wasn't bringing any speed to the team.

He finished with an amazing 4:00:10 - his best time ever, by nearly 20 minutes (previous PR was 4:17). I cried when the text came through. Totally awesome. He, of course, is pissed he came 11 seconds short of his goal of sub-four. I say pooh to that. Four hours rocks, no matter how you look at it. Congrats baby, I'm so proud of you.

And congrats to all the other American Brain Tumor fundraising runners. Loren and Brad both had great races too, coming in at 4:25 and 3:54 respectively. We had such a great day and saw so many amazing runners accomplish their goals. AND we raised $5500 along the way.

Go Runners!!