Duluth pictures, Grandma’s Marathon weekend

We are home, not unpacked, but here. I haven’t been online much for almost a week. Strangely, I didn’t really miss my computer. Sometimes it is good to get away. Now, it is HOT around here! Wow. My car just told me it is 101 degrees. Really, I think it is about 95. At least it is easy to decide what to wear, unlike in Duluth, where you are guaranteed to be either too hot or too cold at some point in the day, no matter what you choose.

Here are just a few pictures from the weekend. First of all, the kids’ races. The 3 younger ones ran 100 yards, and the big girl did the 1/4 mile. You can see them below getting ready, with the mascots (my 3 plus one more):

Zufan hasn’t stopped talking about the kiddy race. She wants to wear a race number at all times. I’ve let her run around wearing my marathon number, just for fun. I’m sure people think it’s a little odd, but she is in her glory. It is too cute. Here, below, is the little guy in red, getting a bit of a head start:

Then, my mommy-on-the-rocks photo, on the way to packet pick-up, further proof that, no matter how far foward I lean in a v-neck or whatever other goofy thing I might do, I am only capable of being one kind of  “racy” (Paige).

Then, below, my dad, Mr. 2214. He decided to run, on a still-injured foot and not much training, but he’s looking pretty good here at mile 2.5. He said there were two shirts he saw along the way that he liked. One said, “Pass the weak and hurdle the dead,” and the other said, “Someday you won’t be able to do this; today is not that day.” I love both of those. Awesome, huh?

Then, Zufan hanging out with my littlest brother, waiting for mommy to run by at mile 25. It took me a LOOOOONG time to get from 13.1 to 26.2. This is the first marathon where my second half has been way, way slower than the first half. Partly, it was the weather; 92 degrees recorded at the finish, 99% humidity at the start but falling to about 80%, and full sun, no breeze. But the truth is, I don’t think it was the heat that made me fall apart. My training just wasn’t there to back me up. Partly because of the triathlon training, partly just because of poor time management, I didn’t do many long runs this spring. By mile 8, even though I was ahead of pace, I could tell I wasn’t feeling right. At mile 13 I was exactly on, but really hurting already, and by 15 I totally let it go. No Boston.

After mile 15 I “ran,” if you can call it that, really slowly, took water and ice from the littlest kids, gave high fives to the babies, talked to people and smiled at everyone. I felt pretty miserable but the crowd, including other runners, was great. One guy caught up to me at mile 20 and said I had been his inspiration for the last 15 miles and added “you look really nice.” Then he dropped back again. Ha! More inspiration? That totally cracked me up, despite that it could have been a bit creepy under other circumstances. Another motivational speaker on the sideline at mile 22 called me “honey” and said I was just floating on in, and when I smiled and thanked him instead of the high 5 he reached out and squeezed my hand. I soaked it up like rain in the Mojave. Funny, how suffering wipes out any inhibitions, whether it’s peeing in the street or appreciating total strangers.  Then at 24, I had a nice surprise, a girl from my running group was there cheering, and by 25.5 I saw the whole family watching, including the kiddos.

When I finished, though, I couldn’t stop the tears. I wandered around and cried, and cried, even while I smiled, because all that pain and effort and months of training, and no Boston. I wasn’t even close to qualifying, after missing it by only 3 minutes last October. What am I doing, just moving backwards? Getting older and more out of shape? Anyway, back to the photo story. Here’s that picture of my little brother and Zufan.  

Here, right after I went by (nobody took any pictures of my miserable self), my brother’s friend from high school came along and he hopped in and ran a few yards. Looks like they are moving at snail speed, kind of like I was at this point.

After the race, the 4 kids at the campground, on the rocks, before campfire time.

And finally, with Zufan and my dad, sunburned, still a little bummed out about my time, but really glad to be done and glad the kids have had such an awesome trip. I don’t have pictures of them with their papi, but he was there, too, taking them mini-golf and swimming and reading Harry Potter out loud for most of the 7 hour trip home. All in all, a very nice weekend.