The Richmond Marathon!

Dan had been looking for a challenge. He wanted something that would motivate him with his working out. After the Ragnar Relay, he felt equal to the task of a full Marathon. Yesterday was that day!

We got up at 4:30 in the morning and threw the kids in the car and drove on down. We met up with our friends E & J, which was really nice for me. Dan was excited and prepared and barely made the 8am start due to the ridiculously long lines to the potties.

With the men gone, J and I headed for her hotel room. They had stayed there to better be on-site for the race, and it was a good idea! On the way, we passed the State Capitol building, and it only seemed right to get a picture.

The kids were delighted to hang out in J's hotel room for an hour. It was warmer than outside, and it had cartoons!

And they enjoyed playing with J's kids. I was happy to have a crowd-free, enclosed area to let the kids run around for a bit.

J was familiar enough with this course to be able to help us get to the 16/17 mile area to cheer on our men. I'm so glad she was there, because I couldn't have found it myself! We staked out a good spot, and waited. Rylee fell asleep, and Marian crawled in next to her. Such a funny girl!

Delaney found something fun to play with!

The kids had a great time in this little lot while we kept watch for the guys.

Yay! I spotted Dan and we cheered like crazy! Joshua was jumping up and down and waving his arms, so most of the pictures I got have a lot of Joshua's arms and not much Dan! We stayed another 15 minutes to cheer on E, and then we headed to the finish line.

We parked our strollers at a decent spot in sight of the finish, but away from the big crowds. We cheered in the runners who came by and had fun. Callie and Delaney climbed on everything! I have decided that when you do an event like this, you need to wear a shirt denoting something about yourself. Spectators who don't know you need a reason to cheer for you! The people wearing shirts with info on them got more cheers. And there was one point where there was a guy wearing an Army shirt who was 10 paces ahead of a guy in a USMC shirt. So there was a lot of hollerin' for those two!

Thank goodness, Rylee still slept! I can't imagine how hard it would have been to try to keep her in one place had she been awake and wanting to run around!

The bigger kids found a way up onto this wall behind us and I was actually happy to have them where I could see them! They thought they were hot stuff up there.

And then we saw Dan!

He was looking good and still running strong! We cheered loudly so he would see us in the crowd.

Yep, he heard us!

Then he sprinted to the end. Knowing it would be impossible to find him in the crush of humanity there, I waited with J till her husband passed, and then we headed to the finish line. Dan called from his cell and told me where he was, so we met up with him.

Here he is, mere minutes after finishing the race. The kids were obsessed with his medal and fought bitterly over it.

All in all, it was a good day, a good race, and the kids were AMAZING. Oh, Dan was also quite amazing!