A few weekends back, Nick did what most people would think impossible. He ran a marathon! It was actually his third time running The Marine Corp Marathon. He last ran it 10 plus years ago when he was at West Point. I vividly remember him telling me years ago, that I must never let him be foolish enough to run it again. He didn't heed my warnings, but he still survived and did great!
He trained hard for the last few months, and was in pretty good shape for his run. His hip has been bothering him and is
progressively getting worse, so he knew this was his last chance to run in a marathon.
We had to be awake
earlier than I care to remember on race day. Thankfully, another mother from Ben's school offered her husband's assistance in giving Nick a ride to the race (he was running too) so that I didn't have to wake the kids up so early.
The kids were able to sleep a bit longer, and when they awoke I loaded them in the car and headed to the Metro. I am proud to say that I
successfully managed to get all three kids safely into DC on my own, on the train. They loved the ride!
We knew that it would be nearly impossible to see Nick start the race, or even to spot him along the race route (30,000 runners!!!). So instead we headed to Crystal City where they had bouncy houses, face painting, crafts, balloon animals, music and more. Needless to say, the kids had a blast! It was especially fun because we met our friend Anna and her mommy Marie. They had a runner also, John ran the Marine Corp 10k earlier in the morning.
Ben sporting his marathon shirt-My Dad runs faster than your Dad!
Sophie enjoyed some free cotton candy. It was the first time she had it, and of course she loved it. Her marathon shirt-Marathoner in Training, Catch Me If You Can!
The kids were all given cow bells to ring as the runners passed by the festival. It was incredibly noisy! Here are Sophie and Anna hoping to catch a glimpse of Nick running by.
After a few hours of fun, we faced the crowds, hopped on the Metro again and headed to the finish line. It took us awhile to find Nick, but eventually we did. He finished a little later than he had hoped. He took an Army PT test just two days before the Marathon. He didn't think it was going to be a problem, but the sit-up portion really wore his legs down. He was on track at the halfway point, but really slowed down after that.
Here are Nick and John post race.
After some healthy snacks and sports drinks, we headed to the Finish Festival. There Nick quickly replenished lost
carbs by consuming two free beers!
We enjoyed the
festivities for a bit, then headed home. We had all had a long day-Nick's longer than ours, of course! Nick was a trooper and posed for a picture with the kids. Addie's shirt said-Hurry Back For a Kiss Daddy!
Finally, here are the numbers:
Time: 3hours 53 minutes 16 seconds
Overall: 3714 out of 21,404 (8,500 didn't finish)
Sex: 2934 out of 12,972
Age (30-34 male): 472 of 1871
We are so very proud of our Marathon Man! We are looking forward to more racing in the future-just not 26.2 miles!
